Different turn in life
by Helmi1
Summary: Alternate version of Buffy season 4. B/A. Read to find out more.
1. Twist of fate

DIFFERENT TURN IN LIFE

**Author:** Helmi1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

**Summary:** Alternate season 4, Angel didn't leave Sunnydale.

**Rating:** may become M (don't know yet), the usual: cursing, violence and so on, if you can watch the show you can read this.

**Paring:** Buffy/Angel, W/O, W/T, X/A

**A/N:** Some of the dialogue is from Buffy episode The Prom.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Twist of Fate**

Angel dropped down into the sewers and helped Buffy down. They started walking further into the tunnels, looking around themselves for the vampire that had slipped in there.

"Oh goody. I always say patrol's not complete without a trip to the sticky sewers", Buffy said dryly.

"I'm sure I saw him come down here", Angel stated.

Buffy turned to look at him. "Can't we let this be the vamp that got away?" She gestured with her hands, keeping them a good width apart. "We can tell everybody he was this big."

"What can I say? I need closure."

Her eyes raked over his body. "And clothes. You don't have a tux, do you?" she said and Angel glanced at her, his eyes questioning.

"Since when did patrolling go black tie?" he asked and Buffy looked at him funny.

"For the prom, silly."

Angel was clearly uncomfortable from the moment on she said the magic word: prom. "We have more important things to think about now than a dance, Buffy", he said. A frown formed to her face and her whole presence was screaming rejection.

"Oh sorry, Giles. I'll be quiet", she said and passed him walking with a quicker pace.

"Oh come on, don't be that way", he said after her, feeling a little frustrated.

Suddenly the vampire they were hunting jumped at her, starting to attack. "Not now", Buffy said in irritation and just plunged the stake into its heart. The vampire grumbled into dust and she spun around to look at Angel. "I'm not being that way. I say prom and you turn all grouchy."

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried that you're getting too, invested in this whole thing.

"In what whole thing? This is the stuff I'm supposed to get invested in. Going to a formal. Graduating. Growing up", she said shrugging her shoulders. She didn't understand what his deal was.

"I know", he said gloomily and turned away. Buffy followed him.

"Then what? What's with the dire?" she asked throwing her hands in the air. He could be so frustrating at times.

"It's... Nothing", he tried, but she didn't let him get away with it.

"No. You have a something face", she said, getting serious herself.

"I think we need to talk. But not here. Not now", he said, he didn't want to do it in some stinky, damp sewer.

"No. If you have something to say, then just say it."

"No. No, if you have something to say, then say it", she told him, but he didn't say anything. The silence was unnerving. "Angel, drop the cryptic. You're scaring me." she finally said, biting her lower lip.

Slowly he walked closer to her and started: "I've been thinking. About our future. And the more I do, the more I feel like us, you and me being together is unfair to you."

Buffy's face fell. "Is this about what the Mayor said? He was just trying to shake us up."

"He was right", he stated and color started to drain from Buffy's face.

"No! No, he wasn't. He's the bad guy! We both know that…", she said desperately and turned when he started to walk away. Neither of them had time to say more when Angel collapsed to the ground in pain. "Angel!" she screamed in alarm and rushed to his side, dropping to her knees to the ground.

Angel groaned in pain gasping for air that he didn't need. "Buffy", he managed to whisper through his pain. She stared at him nearly panicking because she didn't know what was happening to him. Then his eyes flashed with a golden light and he fell to the ground, his large form laying on the cold ground.

Buffy stared at him in shock, the memory of him gaining his soul back right before she sent him to hell, flashed in her mind. "Angel", she whispered uncertainly afraid he might be Angelus.

Angel lifted his head and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Buffy", he whispered hoarsely. He looked around himself, his eyes searching for something, maybe an answer before settling back to hers. "I feel weird", he stated after a while.

"We better get to Giles", she said and helped him to stand up. Together they left the sewers, Angel slightly leaning on to Buffy, he felt weak after the painful episode.

xxx

Buffy and Angel walked into the library only to not see Giles but an old woman sitting in front of the long table. "I have been expecting you two, I believe it worked", the woman said. Curiously they walked closer to her, she certainly was old, probably in her late 80s, her hair was nearly white with silver streaks and she looked fragile.

"Who are you? And what worked?" asked Buffy suspiciously, she knew that appearances could be deceiving.

"I am Olga, dear girl. I am from the Kalderash clan that cursed the souled vampire. They certainly didn't see you coming", she answered and smiled at Buffy.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, her face creasing in confusion. She glanced at Angel and he looked just as lost as she was.

Olga kept on smiling warmly and explained: "The happiness clause, Angelus was not meant to be unleashed ever again. It was made in anger. If there weren't for you, it would have worked, it was not about consuming your relationship, Angelus could find lady friends and never loose his soul. Like I said, they never saw you coming, a girl that would love him despite what he has done and what he is, you are meant to kill creatures like him and you have seen what he has done in the past, yet your love is still strong. The elders were sure that no one could truly love a demon like Angelus."

For a long moment there was silence. Both Buffy and Angel were trying to process the information.

"So why are you telling this to us?" Buffy asked with a weak voice, she didn't like the reminder of Angelus.

"Because we have decided to correct the wrong of the past. He has changed, he regrets, he suffers and he is correcting the past by being a warrior of the light. We have given him his soul, it is now his to keep. The demon is still in the body, but the soul is what controls the mind", Olga explained and she could see the unshed tears in Buffy's eyes.

"His soul is bound?" she asked with a small voice full of relief, love and tears that she wouldn't let surface. Angel grabbed her hand, he was in such a shock that he couldn't even think. He also feared his legs might give out.

Olga slowly got up from the chair and came to the lovers. "Yes, my child. The soul is his. And so is the burden of the past as well", she said and placed her hand to Buffy's shoulder. She sweetly smiled at the couple and placed a warm kiss to both of their cheeks. "The love you two feel does not come often. Be wise and be happy. But remember that being in love and having that someone in your life is not always just dancing on roses, so do not forget what you share. Be well, children", she said and started to leave.

Buffy turned and said after her: "Thank you."

"Yes, thank you", Angel repeated in a hoarse voice. He still couldn't think straight, his head was so full.

Olga stopped by the door and turned to the couple. "You two deserve some happiness in your lives", she stated and with that, left.

Buffy turned to Angel with tears in her eyes and a wide smile on her lips. "Angel, did you hear that, your soul is permanent, it's really yours", she said her voice full of happiness and movement from the happy news.

"It really is, isn't it", he said still trying to wrap his mind around the fact. A small smile rose to his lips and he lowered his gaze to her eyes. "It is, isn't it."

"Yes", she answered breathily. "No more fear of Angelus", she continued and wrapped her arms around his neck. Automatically his arms circled her waist and he pulled her closer. But then his thoughts went back to giving her a normal life, his soul was bound but he was still a vampire. He pulled back sighing in defeat.

Buffy saw the change in his face and she grabbed him by his chin, pulling his gaze back to hers. "Stop thinking and kiss me", she commanded.

He pulled her closer and she let out a startled yelp, then a happy giggle fell from her lips. There was a new light in his eyes, playfulness she hadn't seen in over a year. He leaned in and kissed her softly. But then he pulled away and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Buffy. Things haven't changed, not really. I'm still a vampire…" he started, but didn't get to finish when Buffy hushed him and placed her finger to his lips.

"I have never cared that you are a vampire. You are my very own creature of the night boyfriend. You are all I want or ever will want. I know you are worried because of what the mayor said, but I could never hate you, after all you did to me as Angelus, I couldn't hate you. I will always love you more than anything in this world, now we don't have to be afraid of Angelus, we can be together without fear. I love you, Angel", she said, but he still had to protest even if it wasn't done full-heartedly.

"But…" Again he was silenced by Buffy.

"No buts. I love you, I can't live without you. I have only one question: do you love me?", she said and he looked at her for a long while, making her heart beat faster by every second he was silent.

"I love you, Buffy", he whispered and earned a bright smile from her.

"Then kiss me", she said and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

.

To be continued...


	2. Confirmation

DIFFERENT TURN IN LIFE

**Author:** Helmi1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

**Summary:** Alternate season 4, Angel didn't leave Sunnydale.

**Rating:** T, the usual: cursing, violence and so on, if you can watch the show you can read this.

**Paring:** Buffy/Angel, W/O, W/T, X/A

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Confirmation**_

Angel kissed Buffy more passionately than he ever had after coming back from Hell. He had nothing to fear now. He pulled her closer to his body and circled his arms around her small frame. He had been so close to losing her, so close to never holding her in his arms like this. Her hands crept along his back to the back of his neck, her fingers playing with the short hair and she pulled him even closer to her while she rose even higher to her toes.

But the heated moment was interrupted by Giles clearing his throat. They separated from each other, Angel looking very ashamed, Giles was like a father to Buffy so he wasn't very comfortable with him seeing them in a heated moment like that. Giles wasn't very comfortable either, he took off his glasses and nervously started to clean them.

"Well, I see you have finished your patrol", he said and put his glasses back on, quite sure it was safe, but he still wouldn't look at them.

"Not really", Buffy answered looking at the ground, anything but at her father figure.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were in the sewers, tracking a vampire. Well, we did get the vampire, but then Angel collapsed, he was really in pain. And..." Buffy kept a small pause, she tried to gather her thoughts, sending Angel to Hell was still very sore subject to her. "And his eyes flashed, like when he gained back his soul", she finished with a barely there voice. Angel took hold of her hand and gave it a small squeeze. Buffy turned to look at him and gave a small smile back to him, thanking for the strength he gave her.

"That is strange", Giles agreed. "What happened then?"

"We came back here to ask you what was going on and there was this really old gypsy woman waiting for us. She told us that they had done some magic because they didn't want Angelus running around lose and that now Angel's soul is permanent."

Giles stared at her like she had just spoke in Latin and took off his glasses, starting to clean them once again. "That is extraordinary", he whispered in awe. "I must consult my books", he said absently and went to his office. When he came back to the door, holding a load of books, he looked at Buffy questioningly, she hadn't moved from Angel's side. "Aren't you going to help?" he asked.

"Giles, you're the book guy, I just slay them. You know that dusty books and me don't match. Besides, Angel and I must talk." Giles gave her a look and she sighed: "Just talk. Take your mind out of the gutter."

He blushed and shifted his gaze away from the couple, that wasn't what he wanted to hear, he didn't want to know about her intimate life now that there was no fear of Angelus. "That was too much information for me, thank you. I understand that you two can consume your relationship, but I would advise you to wait until we know that there is no danger of Angelus coming back."

"Come on, we're not slaves of our passion", Buffy said rolling her eyes.

"Well, yes... We should call the others here, to help with the research."

"Fine, I want to tell Willow anyway", she said pulling Angel with her to the desk. She really wasn't in the mood to read, but she needed to now if it really was true, that Angel couldn't lose his soul.

xxx

Everyone stared at Buffy and Angel in shock, Cordelia was the first one to get over it. "So now you can do it like bunnies, why do I have to be here?" she asked.

"Thank you Cordelia", Giles said clearly uncomfortable and once again he started to clean his glasses.

"Soon you don't have any lenses on those things if you keep cleaning them at this rate", Buffy stated. Giles just frowned at her and put them back on.

Slowly Willow started to realize what had just been said and she jumped up from the chair, pulling Buffy into her arms. "That's so great! Buffy, isn't it just so great!" she said feeling giddy and even hugged Angel who looked like a deer caught in headlights when she jumped him.

"Yeah, Willow, we're happy", Buffy laughed, her friend was just so cute when she got all giddy. Xander just glared at Angel, but held his tongue for once.

"Well, back into the matter at hand. While researching, I found a spell that will show if the soul belongs to the body. It should let us know if Angel has his soul permanently."

"It should?" started Xander, he never liked Angel, but now he liked him even less than before he turned Angelus. Everyone turned to look at him. "It should? What if Buffy gives him the big happy and Angelus comes back. Some old granny says his soul is permanent and you just believe her?" he continued.

"Xander", Willow childed, but it didn't work.

He was about to continue when Cordelia interrupted him: "Get over it, Harris! She has never been into you, so just grow up already."

Xander was about to snap back at his ex when he was interrupted again, this time by Giles: "This spell is to assure that his soul is bound. We are not taking a word of a strange woman, we are confirming it this way."

"Well, I'm not going to say I told you so when Angelus kills someone else", he said, got up and left the library.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and jumped down from the table she was sitting on. "Okay, you do your hocus bogus, unlike you people, I have a life", she said and left.

"Well that was fun", Buffy sighed and Oz nodded without changing his expression.

"Entertaining", he agreed.

xxx

Giles performed the spell with Willow's help and it confirmed Olga's words were true. Buffy looked at Angel with tears in her eyes. He gazed back at her, feeling worried, he wiped away her tears with his thumb and cupped her cheek. "You're crying", he whispered and she nodded.

"Happy tears", she choked out and covered his hand with hers. He leaned closer to her and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. "Well, now you don't have any excuse not to come to the prom with me, as my date", she said grinning through her tears.

"Buffy", he started to protest, but she pressed her fingers against his lips, silencing him.

"No buts, you're my boyfriend, show me you love me by coming to the prom with me. Or I'll ask Xander", she said knowing that his jealousy would force him to come with her, there was no way he was going to let her go with Xander, and he didn't need to know that Xander already had a date.

"I don't have a tux", he tried without any protest, his face dark from jealousy.

Buffy just grinned, she knew she had him now. "Why don't we go back to the mansion. To talk", she said with a cheeky grin which sent shivers down his spine.

Angel and Buffy returned to the mansion. She sat to the couch as he added wood into the fire place. She watched him closely, noticing every move of a muscle in his back. God, he was the sexiest thing she had ever seen. Angel turned to look at her with a small half smile on his face, he had felt her eyes on his back and now he was looking into her heavy lidded eyes.

"Maybe we should talk now", he suggested and stood up. Buffy looked at him long and hard, the passion from her eyes was starting to cool down.

"You're not going to do anything stupid and noble, are you?" she asked half joking and half seriously.

"Buffy. I may have my soul, but I'm still not a man. You deserve a normal life. Something that I can't give you", he said and it was very difficult especially now that he was so close to being with her. Buffy jumped up from the couch and quickly crossed the distance between them.

"Don't even think about it. I already told you, Angel, I don't care that you are a vampire. I love you no matter what. I'm never going to have a normal life because I'm the slayer, you are the closest thing to normal that I have. Do you love me?"

Angel sighed and cupped her cheek with his large hand. "Of course I love you, I can't stop no matter how I try", he answered and she closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

"So, stay with me", she whispered not daring to open her eyes.

"Forever", he whispered back and leaned closer pressing a loving kiss to the corner of her mouth.

.

To be continued...


	3. The Prom

_**Chapter 3: The Prom**_

Buffy had it all planned out, the prom was going to be perfect, nothing could go wrong. She was going to take care of the hounds and have a perfect evening with Angel. She couldn't wait to see him in a tux, he looked great in anything, or nothing. Buffy licked her lips at the thought and shook herself. _Bad Buffy_, she chastised and smirked, Angel was just going to drop when he saw her dress. Her thoughts came to a stop when she arrived to the library. It seemed deserted expect for Willow who was doing something involving school books. Perfect, just the person she needed to see.

She quickly walked up to her and sat down to the chair next to her. "Willow, you know I love you and you are the best friend that a girl could ever have", she started and Willow gave her a 'what did you do' look.

"Yes, I know. What is going on in that little head of yours?"

Buffy grinned. "I need a huge favor, if my mom calls, could you tell her I'm spending the night at your place?"

"Where are going to spend it?" the redhead asked, she was so innocent that it was cute.

"I'm going to seduce Angel", Buffy answered grinning wickedly causing Willow to blush.

"Oh. I want to help you, but lying and Willow are not a good combination. I'm very bad at it. If there was a test on lying, I would get an F", she said uncertainly and then went white when she thought about getting an F on something.

"Willow, breathe. There is no test", Buffy said and soothingly rubbed the redhead's back, trying to keep her from hyperventilating.

"Okay, no panic. I'm okay. But I'm not a very good liar, I get all flushed and confused, I stutter and feel performance anxiety", Willow explained frowning deeply.

Buffy smile comfortingly and assured her, "She's gonna call, she's not gonna see you and you have nothing to worry about. Just tell her that I'm going to spend the night, but I can't come to the phone right then."

Willow nodded and gave Buffy a small smile. She looked very determined. "Okay, I'll try. I will not get an F."

xxx

The evening started as planned, or not really, Buffy chased the hounds and got rid of them before they caused any damage. Not what she had imagined, starting her perfect evening with snapping a neck of a ugly hell hound. After that she got dressed and waited impatiently for Angel to show up. He wouldn't have stood her up, he wouldn't do that, right. The biggest surprise so far was that she got an umbrella, an award of class protector.

She was still feeling quite emotional when Giles was giving her his words of wisdom. "And I believe your date has arrived", he finished and pointed towards the door where Angel stood.

Buffy turned around and saw him standing there, looking very handsome in his tux. Their eyes met as they gazed across the room. She wet her lips and slowly started walking towards him, he met her in half way. "You came", she whispered and he nodded.

"You didn't think I'd stand you up, did you?" he asked and pressed a light kiss right below her ear.

"It did cross my mind", she answered with a smile, her eyes closed on their own accord at the feel of his lips on her skin.

"Nice umbrella", he whispered to her ear and she beamed at him.

"Yeah, I got a new toy. But now, you are not going to have any excuse, you are going to dance with me, it's a tradition you know", she said grabbing his hand and leading him towards the dance floor. He wanted to protest, but he had promised himself that he would make her happy, even if it involved dancing.

"Could you hold this?" Buffy asked Giles and when he agreed with an 'Of course', she gave him the umbrella. To Angel's good luck, a slow song started playing. He took a hold of her hand and pulled her closer to his body. Slowly they moved on the dance floor, melting against each other, almost becoming one. Buffy let out a satisfied sigh and placed her head against his shoulder. It was a perfect moment.

xxx

Buffy and Angel were walking hand in hand through the cemetery. She was wearing his jacket, drowning into the large piece of clothing. "I should take you home", he said breaking the silence.

"No, we're heading to the mansion", she stated matter of factly and her voice told him that there would be no negotiation. He turned to look at her.

"Won't your mother wait for you to come home?"

Buffy just smiled and shook her head innocently. "She thinks I'm spending the night at Willow's. But I have other plans."

Without noticing, a small smile rose to his lips and he looked at her closely. "And what would those plans be?" he asked, his voice low and soft.

"You'll find out soon enough", she answered with a wicked grin on her face.

In no time they arrived to the mansion. Angel lit the fireplace and turned to look at Buffy. She was standing behind him, looking slightly nervous. She had taken off his jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa. She looked into his eyes and slowly opened the zipper of her dress, lightly biting her lower lip. She let the dress drop to the ground, it pooled around her feet and she stepped out of it. Slowly she removed the clip from her hair, letting her long blond locks free and threw it to the couch.

Angel's eyes widened, she was standing in front of him only wearing a black and red strapless lace lingerie and high heels. He felt his pants get tighter instantly.

"Angel", she whispered his name like a prayer. He gulped. "Make love to me", she said with a soft voice, looking very vulnerable.

With two long steps he was in front of her, looking down into her eyes that were filled with trust and love. "Are you sure?" he asked once he found his voice. This was what he had wanted for months, but couldn't have but he also had to be sure that she was ready and sure of what she wanted. With some might he had managed to suppress his need for her and not make love to her the moment they found out his soul was bound.

She nodded with a small uncertain smile. "I'm sure. I want you, Angel. I need you", she said with a breathy voice that shot right through him.

"I love you, Buffy", he whispered and bent into a tender kiss. The kiss grew more passionate the longer it went on. With ease he lifted her into his arms.

"I love you too", she whispered and planted a gentle kiss to his neck. Angel carried her to the bedroom, placing her gently on to the large bed. The wine red bed cover was in perfect contrast with her slight frame and the sight was almost enough to make him lose control. He had become so close losing this, giving her away. But it was not going to happen again, he was going to make her happy and protect her, and not let other people affect him.

Buffy stretched her hand to him and he took it willingly placing a small kiss to her knuckles. She pulled him into the bed and he covered her smaller body with his, holding his weight off of her with his arms. He bent his head down and kissed her, passionately raining kisses all over her face.

xxx

Buffy woke up slowly feeling the soft satin sheets wrapped around her and a hard body nestled against her back. A small smile rose to her lips. Slowly she turned around, facing the serene face of her lover, this was all she hoped, to wake up next to Angel in the morning. It was like bad memories of the morning after her 17th birthday were washed away. He looked so peaceful, for once there was no signs of nightmares that she knew plagued him nightly.

She resisted the urge to gently run her fingers across his face, she didn't want to disturb him, he looked too good that way, too peaceful to wake. She just wanted to bask in the moment, waking up next to her boyfriend. Once again a small smile rose to her lips, her thoughts drifting back to the night before, it had been perfect and it was almost like she was virgin again, she had been even more nervous than the first time.

"You're staring", he mumbled without opening his eyes.

"That I am. But you're too cute when you're sleeping", she answered with a smirk and he opened one eye.

"Cute?"

Buffy smiled even wider. "Yes, very very cute", she answered and leaned into a kiss. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she climbed on top of him. He smiled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to his body.

"At this rate, we're not going to get up all day", he stated.

"Would it be so bad?" she whispered to his ear with a husky voice.

"Not seeing any down side to it", he said and flipped them over, him on top.

xxx

Somehow Buffy managed to get out of Angel's bed and out of the mansion. No matter how hard it was to leave. She met with Willow at the library, it was a place where they could talk privately behind the shelves with cups of coffee, decaf for Willow.

"Your mom called and I got a A from lying to her. Or maybe it was a A-, but I was really good. No sweaty palms or stutter. I told her that you fell asleep in front of the TV", Willow told her with a wide proud smile on her face.

"I'm very proud of you, Wills", Buffy answered jokingly with a straight face. Willow jumped in excitement, her smile growing bigger.

"Okay, now I want details of your evening! Not too much though."

Buffy smiled widely and sipped from her coffee, keeping the suspense up. "It was wonderful. I mean, really, WONDERFUL. I thought the first time was perfect, but this time was even better. Is there more perfect than perfect?"

"I think perfect is the highest rank", Willow answered matter of factly with a happy grin. Then it faded and she frowned. "But isn't the first time supposed to be terrible, like hurt and stuff? I know you and Angel... you know, before, but that was over a year ago."

"I've heard that too. But with Angel, it was... wonderful. It did hurt at first, but he was so gentle and loving and he made sure he wouldn't hurt me", Buffy answered, causing them both to blush. "And this time the most wonderful thing was that I woke up next to him. The first thing I saw was him and that was the proof that he didn't lose his soul. It was like erasing the hurt that happened after the first time."

"That's a lot of wonderful", Willow smiled and then turned more serious. "I think it's great that Angel's soul was bound. Not just because you can be... you know together without us fearing for our lives. But because I think you two deserve some happiness. I know I can't fully understand what it's like to be a Slayer but he does, maybe not the slayer part cause he's not a girl or a Slayer, but you know, the whole fighting demons nightly thing."

A tear rose to Buffy's eye and she looked at her best friend feeling very touched. "Thank you, Willow", she whispered and pulled her into a tight hug. Neither of them knew about Xander standing behind the bookshelf.

xxx

Few hours later Buffy stepped through the front door of her home. "Mom?" she hollered into the house and glanced around her. She was startled when she found her mother sitting in front of the dining table with a drink in front of her. Just from the look of her, Buffy knew she was going to be in trouble.

"Mom?" she asked uncertainly and Joyce lifted her eyes from the table, that's when Buffy knew for certain this was not good.

"Where were you last night? And don't lie to me that you were with Willow because I know you weren't", she asked with a harsh voice.

"What you mean?"

"I want the truth, Buffy! I want to know where you spent the night. I ran into Xander and he told me you didn't spend it at Willow's. So where were you?" her voice wasn't warm like Buffy was used to and it sent chills through her spine, bringing memories of the night before she ran away.

"I was with Angel", Buffy answered with a small voice.

Joyce jumped up from the chair and yelled, "How could you be so irresponsible!"

"His soul is bound. He will never be Angelus again. We didn't do anything wrong. Do you really think I would do something that would endanger the world?"

"Did you sleep with him?" Joyce asked with a disappointed voice, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the honest answer to her question.

"That's none of your business", Buffy answered suddenly feeling very defensive.

"I take that as a yes. How could you be so irresponsible", Joyce repeated herself, shaking her head before taking a drink from the glass.

"I love him, mom. I will always love him and we didn't do anything wrong."

"You're eighteen years old, Buffy, you don't know what love is. You may think you love him now, but soon you'll realize it's just a high school crush and you will regret what you have done."

"Mom, it's not a crush! I know what I feel and I know that I love him. I tried so hard so many times not to, but it was no use. I sent him to Hell, he made my life a living hell for months and still I couldn't stop loving him. I'm not some average teenage girl, I'm the Slayer, I had to grow up fast cause I fight for my life every night and I fight to keep the world safe for people who don't even know about the danger they are in after the sun sets. I don't look at the world through rose colored glasses, I know how hard place it is and I know what and who Angel is, I have seen the best and the worst of him and I still love him. There will be no other man that will make me feel like he does."

"But Buffy, you are still young. You're waisting your life if you cling to him, he's a vampire, he's a lot older than you are and he can never give you children", Joyce tried, her voice was now cooler because she knew that she would not get through to her by yelling.

"I think you are the one who needs to grow up, mom. I know how old he is, I know he is a vampire, I don't want picnics in the sun, all I need is him, in some dingy sewer or in fresh air, I don't care. And children are not on the menu, even if I would like to have them, I can't because of what I am, my child would never be safe even if he or she could be born. Do you have any idea how many demons would want to kill the slayer's child or do something worse. I couldn't do that to my child, never", she said with a soft voice without accusing.

"You may think that now, but you will change your mind. I don't want you seeing him anymore."

"What!" Buffy yelped taken back. She stared at the woman in front of her in shock.

"If you keep seeing him, you will not live under my roof", Joyce gave the ultimatum without remembering the consequences of last time.

"You should know what I'll choose, last time it was the world or my home and now it's not that much different", she said with a teary voice and ran to her room.

Only after she walked out the door with two bags and a back bag, Joyce understood her mistake, she had just lost her only child for the second time.

.

To be continued…


	4. Graduating

**Title:** Different turn in life

**Author:** Helmi1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

**Rating:** T

**Paring:** Buffy/Angel, W/O, W/T, X/A

**A/N:** Quite a lot of the dialog is taken from Graduation Day part 1 and 2.

**Spoilers:** major spoilers for Graduation Day part 1 and 2

* * *

**Chapter 4: Graduating**

Buffy was having hard time breathing. She couldn't believe she was again without a home. All the bad memories rushed back into her mind and she toppled over to the ground clutching her stomach. Her mother had once again given the ultimatum and she knew that she couldn't live without Angel. After a while she got up and kept walking until she reached the mansion. Everything was one big blur. She knocked on the door and a beat later stepped in knowing that Angel couldn't just come and open it since it was still daylight.

"Angel", she hollered and soon he appeared from the other room, pulling a white t-shirt on. "Buffy? What are you doing here?" he asked with a soft voice and that was what broke her. Dropping her bags to the floor, she rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing against his chest. Angel circled his arms around her and soothingly stoked her back, trying to get her to calm down. She was clearly upset, but he didn't know what about.

"It's okay, love. Just calm down and tell me what happened." He led them to the couch and sat down, pulling her into his lap. She curled against him, finding sanctuary in his strong arms.

"My mom threw me out. Well not exactly, she told me that if I kept seeing you, I couldn't live with her", she said with a small voice, like a child that had been slapped. Angel immediately felt guilty, this was his fault, he had come between Buffy and her mother and caused her to lose her home.

"Don't even think about it", Buffy said sensing the change in him and knowing what he was thinking. She lifted her face from his chest and grabbed a hold of his chin, making him look at her. "It is not your fault, Angel. I love you, you are my world. I can't imagine my life without you. So don't blame yourself", she said with a soft, but still commanding voice.

"But it was because of me, you lost your home."

"No, it wasn't. I had a choice and I made it."

He pulled her closer and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "You'll stay here till your mother calm downs."

"Are you sure?" she asked and turned to look at him again. Her emotions were all over the place, she was sad of losing her home and at the same time excited of the possibility of living with Angel, but she wanted him to be sure he wanted her there, that she wasn't butting in.

"Positive."

xxx

The school was coming to an end and graduation was just around the corner. The fact that the ascension was on the day of the graduation and as they found out, it was actually at the graduation. In the library the gang met and Buffy found out about Faith's latest victim from Giles. She wished she could have helped her back when she was starting to slip. If only Wesley wouldn't have abducted Faith, Angel really was getting through to her. That was yet another reason why Buffy didn't like the pretentious watcher.

It appeared that Xander's new friend Anya, the very same ex-demon that released the vampire Willow, knew about the ascension and she gave them new information which wasn't all that comforting. Also the mayor decided to drop by. Buffy's day really wasn't going all that great.

After the mayor left, Buffy turned to Giles. "Giles, I need you to get my mother out of town", she said frantically.

"But Buffy..." he started to protest, but she shook her head, stopping him.

"No, Giles. I trust you, you need to convince her to go. We aren't in the best of terms right now, but I need her safe. Please", she begged him and he nodded giving in.

"Very well, Buffy. I will visit your mother and tell her to go out of town before the graduation. But I'm not sure she will listen to me. Or be very happy that she will be missing your graduation."

Buffy just gave him a grateful look, not wanting to tell him, that her mother wasn't going to come to the graduation anyway since they weren't speaking to each other and she had practically kicked her out. She had told him that she wasn't home anymore, but not about the circumstances of why not.

"Thank you, Giles", she said with a relieved smile. She needed to see Angel. This could be one of the last days she had and she wanted them to be with him. But right now she couldn't, she had to find out why Faith had killed a harmless professor, she knew it was homework, but why would the mayor bother right before the ascension.

xxx

Buffy broke into the crime scene and looked around her, going through the papers on the table. She turned around when she heard a noise from the hallway and soon Angel appeared to the doorway, hitting his head while stepping inside.

"Ow."

"That was stealthy", she grinned and he sent a halfhearted glare at her way.

"Not my best entrance. I think they were mopping in the hall."

"Right", she smiled and turned serious. "What are you doing here and how did you know I'd be here?"

Angel stepped closer to her. "I had a hunch you'd be here since this just screams Faith. But Giles also called me, he wanted me to go along with you."

"Why? Is he afraid I'd bump into Faith. You know, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself", she was a little insulted that Giles didn't trust her to go alone and at the same time she was also a little relieved that Angel was with her.

"I know that and he knows that. But we both will feel better if you're not alone", he said while wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressed a soft kiss next to her ear.

"You really shouldn't do that, I can't stay mad at you if you do that", she stated with a breathy voice.

"That's good. Why don't we get this stuff together, give it to Giles and make up at my place", he whispered huskily to her ear and it sent shivers running down her spine.

"Okay, it's not like I understand much of this stuff."

Buffy and Angel gathered the papers and anything that seemed important to a box and left. The gentleman he was, Angel insisted to carry the box, it was cute and annoying gesture at the same time.

"So how quickly do you think we can drop this stuff to Giles?" she asked turning to look at him with a seductive gleam in her eyes.

"Not quick enough."

"You don't think he will want us to help with this stuff, do you?"

He didn't have time to answer when an arrow pierced his chest, right under his collarbone. He groaned in pain and collapsed but Buffy managed to catch him before he fell to the ground.

"Angel!" Buffy screamed and they slowly fell to the ground. "Oh God! Oh God! Angel." She was panicking. Neither of them knew about Faith standing on the roof of the building with a vampire.

xxx

Angel was sitting on a chair in the library and Buffy was next to him, hovering over him. Giles had just cut the arrow and now it was going to come out.

"Are you okay?" Buffy whispered to him, wiping the sweat off his face with a tender touch.

"I'm fine. I will heal quick. Just pull it out."

Buffy nodded and took a hold of the arrow. "On three", she said and started counting after he nodded. "One..." And she pulled the arrow right out of his with a strong yank. He groaned in pain and gritted through the pain: "I knew you were going to do that."

"Are you sure, it was Faith?" Giles asked going back to business.

"I've narrowed down our list of one suspect", she answered, there was no question of who it was, she was just glad Faith's aim had been at miss, even if it was a little suspicious. She lifted his shirt, it was a nasty wound, and she placed the bandage over it, trying not to hurt him anymore.

"Fascinating...", Wesley said while reading one of the report files.

"What?" Giles asked turning to him.

"It seems our Mr. Worth headed an expedition on Kawaii. Digging through old lava beds near a dormant volcano."

"I'm not fascinated yet", Buffy said, all she could think of was Angel, not the fact that the murder victim had been digging holes to the ground.

"He found something underneath. A carcass, buried in eruption", Wesley continued trying to ignore Buffy.

"Carcass?"

"A very large one. Mr. Worth posits that it might be some heretofore undiscovered dinosaur."

"A demon?"

"Well, yes, there's something the Mayor would want to keep secret. If this is the same kind of demon he's turning into and it's dead, then that means he's only impervious to harm until the Ascension. In his demon form, he can be killed", Giles confirmed.

"Great. And all we need is a million tons of burning lava. We're saved", Buffy said sarcastically.

"It's a start, anyway. If we can...", Angel started and weakly stood up with Buffy's help, his legs just weren't cooperating with him. He started feeling dizzy and he almost stumbled.

"You are such a klutz today. Maybe you should", she started to say, but stopped when he started to fall down.

"Damn", he managed to say before he fell to the floor.

"Angel!" she screamed hurrying after him. She pulled him into her arms placing his head to her chest. She stroked his hair smoothing it back and wiping the sweat off his face.

Giles smelled the arrow and frowned. "We'll have to run some tests", he said in thought.

Gently Buffy laid her hand to Angel's damp forehead. "You're burning up."

"My shoulder's completely numb. It's poison, I can feel it", he whispered.

Giles decided to call the others and Wesley promised to contact the council to find out what the poison was. But Buffy couldn't concentrate on anything but Angel, he was obviously in great pain and she felt lost, she didn't know what the poison was and how to make him feel even a little better.

"You're going to be alright", she said softly, wiping the wet hair off his face and placing a gentle kiss to his cheek. He had to be okay.

xxx

They managed to get Angel back to the mansion. He was writhing in pain and Buffy had never felt so helpless. But soon the feeling changed into anger, once she heard from Wesley that the Council could help him, but wouldn't. That was the last straw. She told him that she wouldn't work for the council and went to her friends, the ones that she knew would help. But the cure wasn't that simple, it was slayer's blood so she made the decision, Faith poisoned him and she would also cure him.

She went after the brunette and they fought fiercely. But it didn't go as planned. She stabbed Faith with her own dagger, but she jumped off the building. Faith's words kept ringing in her ears 'You killed me'. But she couldn't think about it now, Faith wasn't an option anymore, so it was down to her.

Defeated, but determined Buffy returned to the mansion. She met Willow and Oz on the hall, but she didn't want to waste her time, she was too concerned about Angel so she told them to go. She went straight to the bedroom, he was twisting around, sweating and clearly in great pain. She sat to the edge of the bed, she took a hold of his hand and ran her other hand across his forehead. He woke up and looked at her, not quite focusing.

"Buffy? It's you?" he asked uncertainly, he had mistaken Willow, even Oz, as Buffy through the night.

"Yeah, it's me", she answered with a quiet voice. He smiled weakly.

"I didn't wanna go without seeing you", he said but she silenced him by placing her finger on his lips.

"Angel, I can cure you."

"It's okay. I'm ready."

"Angel listen to me. Sit up", she said and helped him painfully into sitting position. "You're gonna live. You have to live."

"What do I..."

"Drink", she said and he looked at her confused. She shed her jacket off and said: "Drink me."

Angel shook his head in denial, almost terrified. "No."

"It's the only..."

"Get away!" he commanded his voice showing his fear and desperation, and quickly he got off the bed. He couldn't stand properly, but it didn't matter. Buffy grabbed his arm, trying to keep him up and from fleeing.

"It will save you!"

"It'll kill you", he returned.

"Maybe not, if you don't take it all."

"You can't ask me to do this", he pleaded, but she wouldn't change her mind.

"I won't let you die. I can't. The blood of the slayer is the only cure."

"Faith", he offered, but she sadly shook her head. "I tried. I killed her."

"Then it's over", he stated and moved away from her, trying to run, but only stumbling forward. He didn't get far, he fell against main hall the table, scattering the items to the floor. Buffy came after him, pulling him to his feet.

"It's never over. I won't let you die. Drink."

"Please", he pleaded desperately. Her face hardened and she punched him with great force. He stumbled from the hit and looked at her in confusion. She hit him again and once more, this time his face changed. She yanked her top to the side and grabbed his head, pulling his face against her neck.

She felt his fangs piercing her skin and he started to drink. He pulled her closer to him and they fell to the ground, him on top of her. It was mix of pain and pleasure, she wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Her hand reaching out to something and slowly she crushed the large metal jug that her wandering hand found. All the feelings hit her and she orgasmed right before everything went dark.

Angel stopped drinking, rolling off of her, his face changing back to his human visage. He slowly rose into near sitting position and saw Buffy laying unconscious on the floor. "Buffy." But there was no answer.

xxx

Angel ran all the way to the hospital carrying Buffy in his arms. He was panicking and he had never been so scared in his life or unlife, except maybe when she died, but that wasn't an option now. The doctor was working too slowly for his taste and made him even more angrier when he implied Buffy would be on drugs.

Finally he was thrown out of the way and he went to call Giles and the others. He heard that Faith was in the hospital too and when the mayor tried to kill Buffy, he had hard time keeping his demon in check. Later the gang came and he confessed that he had fed off of Buffy. It came not as a surprise that everyone were appalled how Buffy ended up to the hospital and Xander was the one that voiced his opinions on the matter. He didn't protest, he felt ashamed of what he had done and he felt like he deserved it all. He wanted to stay with her, but Giles convinced him to leave before the sun came up, he was pretty certain that the watcher wasn't concerned for his well being, more like didn't want to see him. So he left and felt like trapped animal in the mansion, trying to get all the worst case scenarios out of his head with no luck.

xxx

After waking from the prophetic dream starring Faith, Buffy said her goodbyes to her sister slayer. She found her friends in the hall and she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when Angel wasn't there. But it seemed to be day, so it was for the best that he wasn't. Her head was clear and she had a plan.

They all met in the library and Buffy told them about her plan. She knew it was a little crazy, but it also could be done. The choices were narrow. After the plan was set in motion, she stopped by at Faith's apartment. Once finding what she needed, she returned to the library, knowing Angel would be there. Together they gathered the weapons.

"How are you?" he asked and gently touched her neck, tracing the bandage with his fingertip.

"I'm fine. I'm the slayer, I heal fast", she answered and sensing the guilt coming off of him, she turned to him, taking his face between her hands. "Angel. I'm fine. I made you do it and I'm glad. I don't ever want to lose you", she said looking into his eyes, begging him to understand. He tried to shift his gaze away, but she wouldn't let him.

"But..."

"No, I love you, more than anything in this world. I made you drink, you didn't really even hurt me. There is nothing to feel guilty about, do you hear me? No brooding about this", she stopped him and placed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"I can't make promises about the brooding", he said and she smiled, pulling him into a more passionate kiss.

"We'll work on that after we stop the ascension."

xxx

The graduation came, to everybody's shock and horror, the mayor actually started his speech. But also the ascension began, turning the mayor into a large and ugly snake demon. The students pulled out the weapons and the fight started. Since the sun was out, Angel was also joining the fight.

The fight was bloody, but only the mayor was a real threat since vampires could be killed more easily. Many fell in the battle and to many students joy, principal Snyder was eaten. Buffy taunted the mayor with Faith's dagger that was still covered with her blood. Faith had been right, human weakness was still there and the mayor chased Buffy through the school without realizing it was a trap. Buffy lead him to the library, where she jumped through the window while Giles pushed the detonator. The school blew up, the mayor with it. Yet another apocalypse prevented.

xxx

The fight was over. Ambulances and fire department were on the scene. Buffy kept searching for Angel with her eyes, he had survived, she would feel it if he hadn't, right.

Giles came to her. "How are you?" he asked placing a comforting hand to her shoulder.

"Tired."

"I'd imagine so. Quite a couple of days."

"My brain hasn't processed everything yet. It's not really functioning at the higher levels. It's pretty much, 'fire bad, tree pretty'. Anything more complex..."

He gave her a small smile. "Understandable. Well, when it starts working again, congratulate it on a good campaign. You did very well."

"Thanks."

Giles reached into his pocket and pulled out the diploma from his jacket pocket. "I uh, I ferreted this out of the wreckage for you. You may not have any interest, but...", he said and placed it into her hand. "I'd say you've earned it." He looked around himself and continued: "There is a certain dramatic irony in the way things turned out. A synchronicity that almost borders on predestination, one might say."

"Fire bad. Tree pretty", she reminded him.

"Right. Sorry. I'd best check on Wesley, see if he's still whimpering", he said and left her. She looked around her, once again trying to find Angel. Finally her eyes landed on the figure standing in the middle of the smoke and mist. She could recognize him anywhere. She started to walk towards him and he did the same. They met in the half way, he pulled her into his arms and buried his face into her hair, breathing her in.

"I'm glad you're okay", she whispered, breathing deep and placing her head against his shoulder.

"It's over now", he confirmed and soothingly stroked her hair and back.

"Yeah, the mayor really isn't ascending anywhere."

"I love you", he whispered and kissed her forehead. She lifted her gaze, looking straight into his eyes.

"I love you too."

"Maybe we should go home, you deserve some rest", he said and started guiding her away from the scene.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna sleep for a week."

.

To be continued...


	5. Back to school

**Chapter 5: Back to school**

Buffy had made up with her mother during the summer, they weren't as close as they used to be, but they were getting along. Joyce still had a hard time accepting that Angel wasn't going to leave her daughter alone, but in the fear of driving her away, she didn't share her opinions with her daughter. She found out it was difficult to meet Angel alone since Buffy was always with him, but that was going to change once Buffy started college, then she could try again to talk some sense into the vampire.

Buffy was moving into a dorm house and it was great luck that she managed to get Willow as her roommate, with someone else it would have been difficult to explain all the crosses, crossbows, wooden stakes and holy water she kept around. Xander had been on a road trip for a while which was a fact Angel was glad of, not that he would tell that to Buffy.

xxx

Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed. His arms were wrapped around her and she was resting her head on his bare chest. "Soon there will be no more late night slaying. I'm starting college, you know", she said while trying to steady her breathing.

"Well, we'll just have to slay in the morning", he smirked, but she shook her head with a smile on her face.

"I wouldn't be able to concentrate on any of the classes. I'm so lucky I got Willow as a roommate. It would have been a bitch to try to explain my variation of wooden stakes and weapons", she said while trailing mindless patterns on his chest.

"I'm sure you could have talked yourself out of it. Have you decided on you courses already?"

"Mhmm... I'm taking psych with Willow. She heard the teacher is brilliant. I'm just not sure if I get through it."

"I'm sure you will. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for", he assured her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"You're not just saying that, are you?" she smirked and turned her head to look up at him.

"I love your mind", he assured, but then he felt the bang of guilt cause so did Angelus, he loved playing with it. Buffy frowned after seeing the change in him.

"You are having Angelus face again."

"I'm not", he tried, but didn't get away with it.

"Angel, you can't lie, you are terrible at it, if it isn't a life and death matter. I'm gonna say this once again, he is not you. You two share a body and he is a part of you, but he still isn't you. What he did, you had nothing to do with. So stop brooding about what he did cause it wasn't your fault. I know you like to brood about the things he did but still, you need to let go, even just a little. I know you care what happened to those people and I would be scared if you didn't feel the guilt and all that, but still, you need to accept that you couldn't do anything about it. It was Angelus, not you."

Angel looked at her straight into her eyes that showed all the love and trust in them and he felt his unbeating heart swell with it. He smoothed her hair back and brushed a soft kiss to her lips. "We'll work on that. But now you need to get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you."

Buffy let out a small mhm and placed her head back to his chest. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep, but at the time her mind was too busy. First of all she didn't know how she was going to be able to sleep while living in the dorms, during the summer she had used sleeping next to Angel, using him as a pillow.

"I think I can't sleep without my pillow. Maybe I should smuggle you to the dorm room with me", she mumbled against his chest fighting sleep.

xxx

Buffy's first day of college wasn't all that great. She felt lost and confused while Willow was jumping out of her skin from the excitement. It was just her luck that the teachers would choose her to pick on. Even the library wasn't what it had been in high school, this one was big hall that didn't have all the intimacy that Giles' used to have.

She met a guy that happened to be the psych TA, but he didn't even remember her name, even though she had dropped a heavy book to his head. He was okay looking, tall and all American boy, but she had Angel so she really didn't pay much attention to him, but it would have been nice of him to remember her name. It was like high school all over again.

She decided to just suck it up, she wasn't going to run to Angel on her first night. Maybe it would get better. To her luck she ran into Eddie, another confused and lonely freshman, so her luck seemed to be turning. They promised to look for each other in the psych class, but he was nowhere to be seen. When she went to his dorm room, it was empty and when she found his so called security blanket, the book he had said he wouldn't go anywhere without, she knew there was something fishy about it.

When she told Giles about her concern, he advised her to learn to look out for herself, that he wasn't her watcher anymore. She felt like her old world was falling apart and it was just worse when she had to stake Eddie and some bimbo vampire that reminded her of blonde version of Cordelia commented on her outfit. She didn't even get to stake the bitch.

xxx

Buffy walked into the mansion, she needed Angel. Maybe she needed to learn to work alone, but she really needed him right now. She was feeling so lost, everything was changing and she didn't want it to happen.

She walked quietly to the living room where he was working on his tai chi without his shirt on. He turned to look at her and gave her a small smile.

"Buffy. What are you doing here?" he asked softly and walked closer to her. He was feeling little uncertain since Buffy hadn't come to see him the night before.

"I just needed to see you", she answered with a small voice and pressed her head against his bare chest. Angel wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back soothingly, he could feel the tension leaving her body.

"Are you okay?" he whispered the question to her ear, but got nothing back. Finally she pulled away from him, looking at him with a pout.

"Do you think my outfit is terrible?" she asked with a small voice and surprised Angel. He looked at her a little amused, but then sensed it wasn't a rhetorical question.

"Love, you look beautiful", he assured her, wiping the smile off his face to sound as sincere as possible, he didn't know where this insecurity was coming from.

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" she asked, her face brightening a little.

"I'm not lying", he answered and grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her against his body. "You are beautiful."

He leaned in for a kiss and she surrendered to him, molding against his hard body. The kiss was gentle, but full of fire, reassuring her that he was hers.

"Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" he encouraged and led her to the couch. He was about to pull her to sit next to him, but she needed the closeness too much so she sat to his lap.

"It's silly really. I just feel so lost and stupid. The teachers have targeted me, again, Willow is ecstatic and I'm happy for her but I feel like I'm out of place. Finally I found someone who was as lost as me, but then he disappeared. First it seemed like he had just left, but he left his security blanket behind." Angel looked at her funny and she smiled explaining: "His book that he told me he wouldn't go anywhere without. I told Giles about it, but now he has a girlfriend and he told me to be more independent. Do you think I'm too needy?" Buffy turned to him with frightened look in her eyes. He shook his head with a small comforting smile on his lips.

"No, you're not needy, love." He pressed a small kiss to the corner of her lips and told her to continue with his eyes.

"And tonight I staked him. He had been turned and then this group of vampires attacked me. I was so out of my head that I had to run", she continued and turned her gaze away from him. He took her chin between his fingers and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

"I'm sorry about your friend", he said sincerely even though he felt slight jealousy over it.

"Thanks. He seemed like a good guy. So how have you been? Sorry I didn't come last night, but I tried to be all mature and managing one night on my own."

"I understand."

"You didn't brood all day, did you? You promised you'd cut back."

Angel chuckled. "I didn't brood", he answered and with Buffy's pointed look continued: "All day."

"Okay. So, how about you, me and some quick patrolling. And if the night is successful, we could get back here and spend some quality time together", she suggested with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Angel smiled widely.

"I think I like that idea. But won't Willow be worried?"

Buffy shook her head smiling. "Nah. I'm sure she'll be spending the night with Oz."

xxx

The patrol was successful and Buffy was feeling more like herself again. She and Angel tried to contain their passion, but they ended up stumbling through the doors, kissing furiously. Neither of them saw the gang of vampires standing in the bushes.

"Isn't there like some law against that?", Sunday said snidely clearly disgusted.

"Why didn't we just kill them both?" Dav asked turning to Sunday who just rolled her eyes.

"Cause I want her to be all alone, you moron", she sniped back at her fellow vampire and turned around to leave.

"But we could so take them both out", Dav continued and ran after the leader.

xxx

Buffy woke up next to Angel. Her head was resting on his chest and his hand was wrapped around her protectively. She smiled and slowly pulled herself free. He reached after her without opening his eyes.

"It's not even dawn."

Buffy turned to him, taking hold of his hand and planting a kiss to the back. "Yeah. But I need to get back to the dorm room. He sat up and looked at her with a lopsided smile on his lips.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay a little while longer?" He ran his finger along her spine, making her shiver.

"I'm sure you could, but I still have to go back", she answered and pulled her shirt on.

"Fine, Willow will be worried anyway. But, I need a kiss before you leave."

"I think I can give you that." She crawled into the bed and pressed a kiss to his lips. She was about to pull away when he grabbed her, rolling her under him and kissed her passionately. When he let her out for a breathe, her head was spinning.

"That was very mean of you", she whispered breathlessly and played with the short hairs on the back of his neck. He just smirked and pressed a small kiss to her lips.

"You should go before Willow gets worried."

"I would, but someone is laying on top of me." He smiled and rolled off of her. Slowly she got off the bed and looked at him with a playful glare. "I'm gonna make you pay for that."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"I'm sure you will", she smirked back at him and picked up her jacket from the ground before leaving.

xxx

Buffy was walking on campus, nearly at her dorm when a snide voice stopped her: "The frat boys are just gonna love a loose dumb blond like you."

Buffy turned around to see Sunday and she glared at the blond vampire. "You're one to talk. At least I don't look the part", she returned glancing Sunday's outfit.

The vampire was a little taken back by the new confidence in the slayer. "At least I've got the body for it."

Buffy giggled and replied: "Keep telling yourself that." She was going to get payback for the things the vampire had made her feel earlier and she was determined to beat it at her own game. She could see the rage on the blond's pale face.

"I'm gonna make you so sorry", Sunday hissed and attacked her. She dodged the hit and punched the vampire, hard to the face. They traded kicks and the gang joined the fight. But speaking to Angel had made her confidence come back, she was the slayer and some vamp wasn't going to break her, she survived Angelus so this was nothing.

She whipped out a stake and with a quick movement dusted the other sidekick. Suddenly Angel showed up and was about to jump in to help her, but she shook her head stopping him.

"Don't, I need to do this on my own. I wanna teach this bitch a lesson", Buffy said and kicked the other vampire so hard that she flew against a tree. One of the branches pierced her chest, but missed the heart. Buffy ran to her, cut the sticking branch and sank it to the heart. The vampire burst into dust and there was only Sunday left.

Buffy smirked wickedly and Angel couldn't help the smile rising to his lips, this vampire was so gonna get it.

"No more snide comments?" Buffy asked and attacked before she could reply. The fight didn't last long cause now Buffy was determinate and having strength from Angels presence. She swept Sunday off her feet and jumped on top of her ready to plunge the stake to her heart. "By the way, your roots are showing", she stated before staking her.

She got up dusting her clothes and turned to Angel. "Not that I don't like seeing you, but what are you doing here?"

"I had a feeling you could use some help. I know you can take care of yourself, but still I like to be there, just in case."

Buffy smiled and walked slowly to him. She placed her hands to his chest, letting them slide up to his shoulders and she pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. "You are sweet. My very own knight in a shining armor."

"And I like seeing you fight", he added and swept her into a more thorough kiss. When they pulled back, her whole body was humming.

"Maybe we should go back to your place, it's gonna be sunrise soon."

He nodded and they were about to leave when Buffy noticed the piece of paper on the ground. She picked it up and quickly read it. She grumbled it into a ball and threw it into the park's trash bin.

"Come on, I could write a better goodbye note than that. Nobody would be fooled by that", she said rolling her eyes and they started walking away hand in hand.

.

To be continued...


	6. Treasure hunt

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

Rating: M

Paring: Buffy/Angel, W/O, W/T, X/A

_._

_Chapter 6: Treasure hunt_

Buffy had spent yet another night with Angel and again she sneaked back into her dorm room she shared with Willow. Willow was sleeping peacefully and she went straight to bed, trying to be quiet as possible not to wake her.

Her alarm clock started ringing and she groaned while prying her eyes open.

"Good morning, sleepyhead", came Willows bright voice from behind her. She rolled on to her back and gave her a halfhearted glare. "Good morning. Why do you have to be so chirpy at this time of the morning?"

"Well, I wasn't the one that sneaked back in at ungodly hour. I bet you spend the whole night with Angel. Tell me, was there a lot of smoochies involved?" Buffy grinned. "Maybe", she answered and got up from the bed.

"Okay. So are you coming to the party? Oz is playing." "I don't know", Buffy hesitated but Willow shook her head and said pointedly: "But you must come. It's college, parties, Oz."

"I don't know", she said still not sure but relented after Willow gave her her best puppy dog look. "Okay, I'll think about it." "Don't forget, tonight we're going to the Bronze, it will be like old times. And tomorrow we will party like the crazy college kids we are", Willow said happily and Buffy fell back to the bed. Who would have thought that Willow would be more into going to a college party than her.

.

After her last class was over, she went to the mansion but to her wonder, it was empty. She called after Angel but there was no answer. She finally set her books on the table and started doing her homework. She managed to finish her essay before she fell asleep on top of her books.

When she woke up, she found Angel staring at her with a small smile on his face. She smiled.

"Hi." "Hey. When did you come here?" He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "After the last class. I think I fell asleep while reading about the Neanderthals", she answered while starting to get up and Angel gave her a understanding smile.

"So, where were you?" she asked and pulled him closer.

"Heard there was a new player in town. Been recruiting so I went to have a talk with Willie", he answered and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips.

"Did you find out anything useful?" she asked while snuggling more closely into his embrace.

"It's Spike", he answered and she pulled away enough to see his face. "Spike? He's even more dump than I thought." "Yeah, well, he never was much of a thinker." "He's a masochist, cause I'm gonna kick his ass, again."

"How about if we don't talk about Spike right now?" Buffy smiled and pulled him into a kiss. "Fine by me", she managed to mumble before she was silenced by his lips. They stumbled into the couch, her on his lap.

Finally she broke the kiss, trying to steady her breathing. "Are you coming to the Bronze tonight?" she asked out of the blue. He looked at her funny. "What?" "Me, Willow and Xander are going to the Bronze. Xander is bringing Anya, naturally Oz is playing, so are you coming with me?" He shook his head.

"I don't know." "Come on", she whined with her best puppy dog face. "I'll think about it", he finally relented.

"That's more like it. And after some dancing, we could go for a quick patrol. By the way, Willow asked me to a party but I don't know if I'll go."

"You should go, don't stop living just because I'm here", he said even if he was feeling the jealousy burn inside him. "Are you sure? I'm not that keen on going."

"I'm sure. I don't want to be an obstacle." "You're not an obstacle and you'll never be", she whispered and kissed him with all love she could put into that kiss.

.

The night at the Bronze was like any other night, only Buffy was feeling a little like a fifth wheal cause Angel hadn't shown up yet. It wasn't like he had promised he would, he had said he would think about it.

She was nursing her drink, not listening to what Xander and Anya were discussing, Anya had no tact even less than Cordelia and she really wasn't interested in their sex life.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at who it belonged to. Parker, she had met him in school and talked to him couple of times.

"Hi." "Hey, Buffy. I wanted to ask if you'd like to dance." Buffy glanced at the door but there was no sign of Angel. Then she saw the encouraging looks from her friends and decided to loose some time before heading out. "Okay", she said and took the hand he offered.

They went to the dance floor and started to dance to the beat. After one dance, she felt the familiar feeling that told her Angel was near. Quickly she scanned the area and found him standing in the shadows, she couldn't see his face but she knew he wasn't happy, dancing with other guys always made him jealous. She smiled and kept dancing a little more provocatively keeping her eyes on him. After the song ended, she pulled away from him, thanked about the dances and headed towards the bar. She ordered a coke and drank it down greedily.

She felt an arm circle her waist and without looking she knew it was Angel. She smirked and turned to look at him, the serious expression revealed his jealousy even though he tried to hide it.

"Hey." "Hey. Whose your friend?" he asked trying to sound casual but his voice told other story.

"Just Parker. You wanna dance?" "I found a fresh grave", he stated changing the subject, she had danced enough for his liking, in front of too many male eyes.

"Okay, business before pleasure", she answered huskily and led him away from the club. Parker watched from the distance, she had left with another guy but it only made it easier for him since she was loose enough to leave a club with a stranger, it didn't even cross his mind that the older guy could be her boyfriend.

The newly risen vampire wasn't much of a threat to Buffy and Angel, he was quickly taken care of.

"Were you jealous?" Buffy asked smiling widely while patting the dust off her clothes. "No, I'm not jealous", he answered quickly, frowning and that made her smile even more widely.

"You are, you're jealous. Every time I dance with other guy, you are just spilling with testosterone." "If you would actually dance and not imitate mating, I would not be spilling with testosterone." Buffy walked closer to him, swaying her hips with every step she took.

"It was innocent, I'm not interested in Parker. Besides, I only made the show for you if you didn't notice through the jealousy", she said with a husky voice. "Well, I would prefer if you didn't show anything like that in public places." She giggled and slided her hand to his shoulder, her fingers playing with the short hair on the back of his neck.

"I love it when you get jealous, all possessive and growly", she said and nipped at his neck before giving his skin a gentle bite.

"Buffy", he groaned trying to chastise her. "Mhmm?" She kept showering his neck with small kisses till he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Their hands were roaming all over their bodies and he pushed her against a tall headstone. He lifted her into his arms and her legs wrapped around his waist instinctively.

"We should go back to your place", she said breathlessly but a moment later they slided to the ground. All thought of leaving flying out of their heads. Neither of them noticed Spike through their passion clouded minds. He was standing behind the bushes, his eyes wide and a cigarette hanging loosely, forgotten on his lips.

.

Buffy and managed to get back to the mansion later in the evening and before sunrise Buffy came back to her dorm room. In the morning Willow told her about her encounter with Harmony, that she had grown fangs instead of claws. The classes went on as usual and after school she went to see Angel. He promised to do the patrolling since she was going to the college party so it was like a night out for her. She gave Angel the choices of what she was going to wear and it didn't come as a surprise when he didn't approve of them in front of other guys.

.

Buffy and Willow went inside the house where the party was held. They both looked with wide eyes as people were acting as drunk as can be, making out or some of them were already passed out. They were both feeling out of place.

Parker ran to them. "Hey, Buffy" and added a court Willow pause later. "Okay, I'm gonna go look for Oz", Willow said and left Buffy with Parker. "So you came", Parker started trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Yeah. Willow talked me into it, her boyfriend is playing here. It's just different subject does anyone listen, since they seem busy, making out and passing out", she said and looked around her awkwardly.

"Yeah, it's a mad house. Do you wanna dance?" "Nah. How 'bout we just talk", she answered and he lead her to the couch.

They talked for a while and it was okay conversation, he gave her his sad story. A small pause came and he took it as his cue to kiss her. He leaned closer to her, ready to claim her lips but she pulled away looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"What are you doing?" "I'm sure you know what I'm doing", he answered like it was obvious. "Why were you trying to kiss me?"

"Stop acting like a virgin, Buffy. I thought you were out to have a good time. I can show you real good time", he said trying to sound seductive but only managed to make her nauseous. "Why would you think I'd like any of that with you!?" she said and jumped up from the couch.

"Come on, Buff. I know you are loose, I saw you leaving with that stranger, who would have thought you're into older guys." "That was my boyfriend." "

We can still go back to my place. He doesn't need to know", he suggested and she looked at him like he had gone mad. "You're disgusting", she said before she started to walk away from him starting to feel nauseous just looking at him.

She didn't manage to get outside when she ran into Spike and Harmony, holding a nearly dead guy.

"Slayer", Spike hissed and Harmony just looked clueless. "Buffy." Then she turned to look at Spike and asked: "Slayer?"

"Spike, Harmony. Spike come on, first psycho lunatic and now shallow bimbo. Did you loose a bet?" "Hey!" Harmony yelled after a while and Buffy just rolled her eyes, she really hadn't changed that much.

"Did Dru dump you again?" "No", Spike said defensively but Harmony rolled her eyes and answered: "Yes. Sometimes it's all he talks about. Dru this, Dru that. Like she's the only one out there. Like I really care about miss Daisy." "Miss Edith", Spike corrected. "What ever."

"As nice as this is, but you really should have stayed away from town, Spike", Buffy interrupted their moment of bickering. "Yeah, I know. What the hell were you thinking, slayer, shagging the bloody poof. Like I haven't got enough problems and now I have to worry about the bloody crazy bastard of a grand sire coming after me."

"What are you talking about? He's not Angelus." "Well he looked bloody delirious to me when you were shagging the living daylights out of him." Buffy's eyes widened and she gasped: "You were spying on us!" Spike smirked.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Her eyes darkened from anger, Spike had seen her naked. She punched him hard and he fell to the floor. Harmony went to help him up and looked angrily at Buffy.

"You hurt my little Spikey. You are going to be so sorry. When he finds the Gem of Amara, you'll be like so sorry!" "Harmony!" Spike yelled and started to drag her away from the house. Buffy looked after them and decided to go to Giles, she needed to find out what this gem was.

When Buffy arrived to Giles' apartment, she saw through the window that he was with Olivia. She decided not to disturb him and went to the mansion. Angel was just going out hunting when she arrived.

"Hey. Were you leaving?" she asked looking at his appearance. "Yeah. Weren't you supposed to be at the party?" "Yeah. But it was lame. Till I ran into Spike and Harmony. She accidentally slipped that he's looking for the Gem of Amara. Do you know what it is?" Angel frowned and dropped his weapon bag to the floor.

"Every vampire knows about the Gem of Amarra. It's supposed to make you invincible, but it's guessed to be just a myth."

"Well, Spike thinks it's real. And he's looking for it here." "He must know where to look", he said thoughtfully, his face in a frown. Spike had always been a dreamer, believed in myths and all that, if he found the gem, it would be bad.

"We'll think about it later. You were going out patrolling, how 'bout I come along. Maybe we get lucky and get to stake Spike and Harmony", she said pulling him out of his morose thoughts and pulling him along with her.

.

Buffy was walking on the campus, she had two hours of free time between classes. Maybe she'd go see Angel. Or maybe she should visit Giles, she hadn't spend much time with him lately since he had Olivia visiting and she had Angel and school. Also the comment of being more independent, that he wasn't her watcher anymore, had hurt more than she admitted, even to herself.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw Spike waltzing towards her. And it was sunlight, and he wasn't bursting into flames.

"Well, it's a lovely day. Birds singing, sun shining and no cloud in the sky. It's nice after a hundred years, especially without the hazard of setting on fire. Do you think I'll need sunblock, slayer?" he chatted while she looked at him in wonder.

She punched him hard and he fell to the ground but jumped up instantly. She pulled out the stake and he seemed to loose his guard a little too easily. She drove the stake to his heart but he didn't turn to ash. She looked at him with wide eyes but he just giggled.

"That was fun. Do it again! Do it again!" he encouraged like a young child to a mother. "The gem", she whispered to herself and quickly scanned his appearance.

"Yeah, that's right slayer. And now it's time for me to kill you", he said showing her the ring and punched her in the face with the fist. She almost fell to the ground but managed to keep herself up. "Like I haven't heard that before", she said back and hit him. They traded punches and kicks fighting long and hard.

He managed to throw her against a tree and she felt disorientated for a moment too long. He grabbed her by the neck and smashed her head against the trunk. He was about to sink his fangs into her neck but he couldn't resist the last comment.

"Too bad I have to kill you, you do have such a great body and someone who is nearly a virgin, you sure are talented, maybe I should keep you as a toy for a while." His hand trailed down her side, that's when her eyes darkened and her head cleared.

She head butted him hard and threw punch after punch at him. He fell to the ground and she jumped on top of him. She grabbed his hand and pulled the ring off. He screamed in pain, threw her off of him and ran into cover, disappearing into a manhole.

She laid on the ground where he had thrown her, she was breathing hard after hard beating. Her head was starting to feel too full and every part of her body hurt but she couldn't move, all she could do was stare at the ring. She knew exactly what she was going to do to it.

.

To be continued...


	7. Picnics in the sun

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

Rating: M

Paring: Buffy/Angel, W/O, W/T, X/A

_._

_Chapter 7: Picnics in the sun_

Buffy walked into the mansion, she knew since it was a day, he might be sleeping. And as she had guessed, he was. Soundlessly she crawled to the bed and laid next to him. She loved to watch him sleep, it was the only time he was something near peaceful.

"You're staring again", he mumbled without opening his eyes. She smiled widely. "Well, you're so cute when you're sleeping." He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Why am I cute? Handsome I could understand but cute?" "I can't describe it, but you are deviously handsome as well if that helps", she smirked. He grabbed her by the neck pulling her closer and she let out a startled squeak before he silenced her with his lips. After he ended the kiss, he looked at her frowning.

"You're hurt." "I'm already healing. I had a meeting with Spike." He looked closely at her wounds, inspecting them with care and his frown deepened, she had never been beaten so badly by Spike.

"He has the gem", he stated but she just shook her head smirking. "Not anymore", she whispered and pulled out the ring.

"What...", he started but was at lost of words. "I want you to have it. You deserve to have it", she clarified and took hold of his hand. She pressed a kiss to his knuckles and put the ring into his finger. "Buffy", he tried to protest but this time it was her who silenced him with a kiss.

.

If his heart would have been beating, it would have burst out of his chest. He was truly scared. He hadn't seen the sun in over two hundred years and it was the thing he had been afraid of those years. But now he could greet the sun without fear of burning but he was scared. He needed Buffy with him but because of what he wanted to do, he couldn't have her as his pillar of strength.

He looked down at the basket in his hand, he already felt ridiculous but he had almost left her for sunlight and picnics so he needed to do this. He was so whipped, he thought to himself while taking the first step into the light. He waited for it to burn but nothing happened, it only warmed his skin.

Still he didn't trust it completely so he staid in the shadows while walking towards the campus. He arrived to his destination and sat in front of a table in the courtyard. He knew her schedule by heart so he knew she would be finishing her first class. He checked his watch feeling more nervous by the minute.

.

Buffy sighed deeply, finally the psych class had ended. She couldn't wait to go to Angel. She had been dying to tell Willow about it but they couldn't speak during the class since Walsh was keeping close eye on her, so was the TA Riley for some reason.

Buffy hadn't come back to the dorm room all night, only in the morning to change and Willow had already went to class by then. She stayed by the door waiting Willow to catch up since she was talking with Riley. Willow jocked to Buffy and greeted her with a bright smile: "Hey!"

"Hey. Sorry I didn't come back last night, but you know, lots to talk about with Angel." Willow grinned. "Yeah, I bet you two were talking."

"Come on, Willow. We're not slaves of our passion", Buffy said rolling her eyes. Willow smiled but then her face started to grumble into a frown. Buffy followed her gaze and saw Parker.

"He's been spreading a rumor that he slept with you. I know it's not true but it's still not nice", Willow said not looking at Buffy. "He's a prick", Buffy stated, she didn't like the rumor either even though she hadn't heard it yet. They had almost reached the door when Riley ran after them.

"Hey Willow, Buffy. Buffy, I needed to ask you something", he started but Buffy's eyes were scanning the courtyard and when she saw Angel sitting in a shadow of a tree, she turned around and quickly ran to him. Riley was left standing mouth open in the middle of a sentence looking after her.

"That's her boyfriend", Willow clarified and then realized that it was Angel, standing outside, during daylight and her eyes widened in shock.

"What?" Riley asked in a mix of concern for Willow and jealousy for Buffy. He had seen the sudden change in Willow. "He doesn't go out that much", she covered trying not to stutter.

Buffy ran to Angel without stopping and she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. "Hey!", she greeted and pressed a long passionate kiss to his lips. "Hey."

"You're outside, in sunlight", she stated with a wide smile. "Yeah. I wanted to surprise you", he answered and set her down to the table. Her eyes set to the picnic basket and she turned to look at him with question in her eyes.

"I decided to take you out to picnic." Her lips curled into a wide smile. "That's so sweet", she said and pulled him into another kiss.

.

They went to a secluded area, it was beautiful, not too sunny and close to a small pond. They were sitting on a blanket in a shadow of a tree.

Angel was watching her in awe and after a while, she started feeling uncomfortable. "Is there something in my face?" she asked but he just shook his head smiling.

"Have I told you how beautiful you are in sunlight?" Her lips curled into a smile and she threw her hair back.

"Not in the last fifteen minutes. You don't look so bad yourself, little pale but..." He silenced her with a soft kiss to her lips, they tasted like strawberries since that's what he had just been feeding her before he was lost in his thoughts. She let out a satisfied hum and smiled at him brightly. She glanced into the basket.

"We should eat those apples before they turn brown", she suggested and he picked up the container. He took one of the pieces which she took into her mouth licking his fingers while doing it. The whole picnic had been like foreplay with food.

A small line of the juice trailed down the corner of her mouth and he leaned down to kiss the juice off. He started to trail kisses down her chin to her neck.

"You're gonna be late from the class", he mumbled against her neck and it only send shiver down her spine. "I'll skip it", she said threading her fingers into his hair. "Buffy", he tried to protest without leaving her neck.

"I'm gonna skip it with or without you. Preferably with you", she said pulling his head up and claiming his lips. He groaned and pulled her into his lap.

"You know, I never saw the big deal in picnics, ants and bugs and all that. But suddenly I'm seeing it in a whole new light", she said smirking and sucked his earlobe into her mouth. He moaned and pulled her even more closer.

"I wonder if now that you're not sunlight challenged, if you can have a tan", she whispered to his ear and started trailing kisses down his neck.

"Buffy, we really should stop before some sees", he groaned even though he wanted anything but stop. "Don't want to", was her answer and she gently bit his ear. He groaned, his hands trailing down her back on their own accord and disappearing under her shirt.

"We really shouldn't", he protested and unclasped her bra. "Yeah, we shouldn't" she agreed but her actions spoke differently since she slowly started to open his shirt buttons.

.

Buffy returned to the dorm room. She changed her clothes and frowned while looking the clothes she had been wearing earlier, those grass stains would be a bitch to get out.

Willow walked into the room and glanced at Buffy, she was feeling a little hurt that she had been spending so much time with Angel and not with her.

"Hey Buffy." "Hey Willow. I'm sorry I bailed on you today but I'm sure you understand. Angel took me to a picnic", she said smiling widely. "Oh. And how did he do that during the day?" Willow asked and sat on the bed. Buffy turned to her and quickly went to sit next to her.

"I was so dying to tell you but I didn't have the time. Angel has the gem of Amara, that's why he can be out during the day. I took it from Spike yesterday." "So Spike found it", Willow stated, Buffy had told her that Spike was looking for some piece of jewelry that would make him invincible.

"Yeah. Whole no stake or sunlight can kill me thing. I managed to get the ring off of him and I gave it to Angel." Willow couldn't help but feel a little jealous since now Buffy could spend even more time with Angel, she hardly saw her friend as it was and now she would see her even less. She frowned.

"Buffy, don't take this on a wrong way. I'm really happy for you and Angel but... I miss you, you're always with Angel or patrolling with Angel, or studying at Angel's. I hardly see you these days. Ever since he got his soul bound, all in your life has been only about Angel. I miss my friend. I miss talking to you and spending time with you." Buffy looked at her friend with sadness in her eyes, she realized she had been spending a lot time with Angel and hadn't seen her friends all that much but it seemed like they were living their own lives without her and she didn't want to butt in.

"I'm sorry, Willow. It's all been so hectic, school, slaying and Angel getting his soul. I will make it up to you, I promise."

.

Angel was walking down the aisle of the dorm house, heading towards Buffy's room, a place where he hadn't been before. He saw the guy Buffy had been dancing with the other night and his face darkened. The guy was pulling moves on some girl, leaning on her and talking with tortured expression on his face.

"Excuse me. Do you know who that is?" Angel asked a guy passing him. The guy glanced at Parker and then answered Angel: "That's Parker. Regular Romeo, always trying to bed the freshmen. He's pulling the moves right now, that girl is gonna have it like the Bunny girl." Angels face darkened even further and he had to suppress a growl.

"Buffy?" "Yeah, that's it. I heard they were doing it all night the night of the party. He says she's been following him like a lost puppy but I haven't seen it happen."

"Thanks", Angel bit out and glared at the boy that had been spreading rumors about his girl, he knew it wasn't true since Buffy had spend the whole night with him. He started to move closer to Parker, trying to control his anger which was getting harder by the second.

"You Parker?" he asked him and he turned to look at the stranger, seeing it was the same guy that Buffy had left with from the Bronze. "Yeah?"

"We need to talk", he bit out but the boy had the nerve to look smug. "I don't think so. It's not my fault you can't show your girl a good time, that she has to come looking it from me. Maybe she's not so into old guys", Parker said confidently even though he was starting to get scared from the look the man was giving him.

Angel grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him away, he resisted but it was for nothing, Angel was too strong. Angel threw him to the ground and tightened his hands into fists, trying to control the rage he was feeling.

"You've been spreading rumors about Buffy. They are going to stop. You are going to clarify that you tried and she turned you down", he said through clenched teeth, he was feeling his fangs grow.

"Who says it's a rumor. You're little girlfriend came to me, begging me to take her to my bed", he taunted with fake courage and Angel had had enough. He grabbed him by the collar, throwing him against the wall and leaned close to his face so he could see his eyes clearly.

"You lie. If she had been anywhere near your bed I would smell a rat like you on her. I know exactly where she was that night and a piece of shit like you is not going to ruin her reputation", he said and let him go.

He turned to leave but spared one glance at the boy and it was once too much. He lost control and punched the boy hard but not hard enough to kill. He didn't want another life on his conscious but he was quite sure he could live with this one. He left the boy bleeding on the ground and went to surprise his girlfriend.

.

Angel knocked on the door and it took some time before Buffy opened the door. A bright smile lit on her face as she saw who was at the door.

"Angel", she breathed. "Buffy." After a long silence and staring, he shifted uncomfortably. "You need to invite me in, I haven't been here before." "Oh. Come in, Angel."

He stepped inside and noticed Willow sitting on the other bed. "Hey Willow." "Hey Angel. Congratulations about the whole sunlight thing by the way", Willow said nervously. "Thanks." "Okay. I'm gonna go see Oz", she said and hurriedly left the room.

"So, what brings you here?" "There's new demons in town." Her face grumbled a bit.

"So it's a business call", she stated trying to keep the frown off her face. Angel smiled and pulled her into his arms planting a kiss to her lips. "Business before pleasure, love."

"Fine. Let's go hunt for some nasties. I have psych homework to do so we better be quick. And Willow isn't too happy that I haven't spend all that much time with her, so there is a major butt kissing ahead", she said and grabbed her coat. She was about to walk out the door when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him.

"I don't want to keep you away from your studies. And I don't want to come between you and Willow." Buffy smiled, he was so sweet. "You're not. We've both been so busy with school and boyfriends. We're going to spend some quality time together so don't worry about it, me and Willow are fine. And I couldn't concentrate on studying thinking about the new demons, so we better take care of them first. Maybe if you're lucky, you get to be my study buddy", she said and added the last one with a wide smirk on her face.

.

A sickly gray demon threw Buffy against a mausoleum and she slided down the wall barely conscious.

"Buffy!" Angel screamed feeling the panic rising when he smelled her blood. He decapitated the demon he was fighting and attacked the demon that had thrown Buffy.

"You are weak, Angelus. You don't deserve the gem", the demon bit out and nearly cut Angel with his claw. "And I bet you do deserve it?"

"I have been searching the gem of Amara longer than you have existed, vampire." "Then you must not be all that smart", the demon heard Buffy voice right before he saw the tip of her sword showing from his chest. Buffy lifted the sword slicing through the demon and it fell lifeless to the ground.

"Buffy", Angel whispered and stepped closer to her, lifting his hand to the wound in her head. She winced at the pain and covered his hand with hers.

"Don't even go there", she stopped him knowing he was going to go on the guilt trip at any moment now. "It's a habit." "Well, get a new one. But not smoking, it gives lung cancer." "I can't have lung cancer." That earned him a playful slap on the chest, which made her wince.

"You're hurt." He started to inspect her for wounds but she pushed him away. "Just a little. Stop hovering, I have been hurt worse before. Those guys have nothing on me", she said and glanced at the five gray bodies on the ground.

"Should we bury them?" she asked with a weak voice. "I doubt they would just blend into the scenery."

"You better do it, I'm hurt." "You were fine a minute ago", he stated with a smirk.

"Well, I'm a big believer on that men bury the demons and women give birth to the children." Angel looked down to the ground. "Buffy, I can't have children", he reminded her.

"That doesn't change my opinion", she said and after that went serious. She took hold of his cheek and lifted his gaze to hers. "I don't want to have children. Well, maybe I do, someday but I can't. They would never be safe, I'm fighting for my life every night as it is and I can't be worrying about my children too. They would always be the target of some new player in town cause they would be the perfect way to get to me. And even if I could have them, I would want you to be the father and your little swimmers are too lazy to knock me up." She pressed a kiss to his lips and then pulled away.

"Now, how about you bury those things before they start to smell. I promise I will make it up to you", she said with a sly smile.

.

Angel had noticed that there were more demons in town than usual, he and Buffy had been busy every night, fighting against various demons. He stepped inside Willie's bar and quickly many of the customers fled the place.

"Hey Angel!" Willy greeted loudly. Angel walked to the bar desk and sat into the seat, he was feeling beat but he still needed the information.

"The word is out that you've got the Gem of Amara", Willie said looking at him pointedly. And he knew the word had gone around.

"I've noticed there is more demons in town than usual." "Yeah, business has never been better. I'm considering of hiring extra hand in here. You wouldn't happen to know anyone?" "Sorry Willy", Angel said distractedly, he was too engrossed in thought, he was slowly slipping into his brooding habit.

"I know the chicks go for the mysterious silent guy but you need a new look. The brooding is getting depressive."

"I'm not brooding", he said defensively and added: "I'm thinking." He knew there was going to be more and more demons who wanted the ring but he didn't know what to do to it, he couldn't protect it forever. He got up from the chair and left the bar without even hearing what Willy was saying.

.

Buffy and Angel had just finished a group of demons. They were both bruised and tired but they had survived yet another group of demons that were after the ring. Angel knew that and it was bothering him, Buffy knew it too but she wanted to live in the denial.

"We better bury those things. I guess there isn't much action here anymore."

"That's where you are wrong girl. There is plenty of action. I'm going to drink your blood and walk in the sun after I get the ring", came a new voice from behind them. They both turned to look at the vampire that appeared from the darkness. The vampire looked Angel up and down in disdain.

"The great Angelus, weak like a fledgling, you even smell like the slayer", the vampire bit out in disgust. "You're one to talk", Buffy responded defensively, she didn't smell.

"So this is the feared slayer. Small, isn't she. I'm gonna crush her bones", the vampire said looking at Buffy measuring her and directed the last to Angel. "Like I haven't heard that before", Buffy said rolling her eyes and whipped out the stake. The vampire snarled and attacked her.

The fight was quick paced and fierce, the vampire was old and strong. Lot of his movements brought memories of Angelus to her mind and that threw her concentration. Angel had joined the fight but the vampire was too strong even for him.

He struck Angel hard, throwing him to the ground. He kicked him to the chin, making him loose his consciousness. "He's become weak", the vampire snarled and concentrated on Buffy.

"No one picks on my boyfriend!" she said and attacked him with rage. They traded bunches and kicks without grace, it was all for the fight. He kicked her into arm and she lost her grip on the stake. While she was searching the stake with her eyes, he kicked her to the chin and she lost her balance. He grabbed her by the neck and smashed her head hard against a tombstone. He did it several times again and growled at the smell of her blood. He pulled her up leaning against her throat.

"I am so gonna enjoy this", he said smiling and was about to sink his fangs into her neck when Angel plunged Buffy's stake through his back into the heart. "So am I", he said coldly and the vampire burst into dust.

Buffy fell but Angel caught her before she hit the ground. He pulled her into his arms, she was barely conscious. "I'm sorry, love", he said and started carrying her out of the cemetery.

.

Buffy woke up in Angels bed. She looked around her and saw Angel sitting in a chair with a serious expression on his face. He lifted his head and stared into her eyes for a moment before quickly getting up and coming to the bed. He sat to the edge and traced her face with his finger.

"You're awake." "Yeah." "I was so scared. You got hurt badly", he said painfully and pulled her against him. Buffy buried her face into the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, she had been sure she wasn't going to make it.

"I love you", she whispered, she really needed him to know it. He pulled back and put his hands on her both cheeks, keeping her gaze fixed on his. "I love you too, Buffy." She smiled weakly and pulled him into a gentle loving kiss. When he pulled back, he had a pained serious expression on his face.

"Buffy. I can't keep the ring." Buffy's eyes widened and she yelped: "Why?"

"It's too dangerous. More and more demons have come here to get the ring away from me. I can't fight them forever. One day I'm going to loose and that will be worse than we could imagine. I almost lost you today and the thought scares me more than you can imagine. Sunlight means nothing to me if I can't have you." A tear slipped from her eye.

"What are you going to do?" she asked with a small voice. "I know someone, a very powerful person, who can keep the ring safe. He can make a enchantment that no one can take the ring if he or she isn't worthy of it." Tears were flowing down her cheeks freely.

"You're not going to leave Sunnydale again, are you? Remember last time, it didn't go all that well." He cupped her cheek and she leaned into his touch.

"It's only LA. I'm not going to stay long. We need to do this." "I know", she said miserably and closed her eyes. "But I don't like it", she added pouting like a child. He kissed her and pulled her to his arms.

.

Angel had been gone for two days, he had met the person he went to see and he hid the gem, putting a charm on it, that only one who was worthy could find and take the possession of it.

As soon as it was dark, Angel met Buffy at Bronze and they agreed to meet at the cemetery in an hour. He was nervously waiting for her, he knew she didn't like what he had done but he knew it was the right thing to do. He heard a crack from behind and he spun around. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the picnic basket on Buffy's hand.

"Buffy?" "Yeah?" "What are you doing?" he asked still not getting what was going on.

"I thought we could have a picnic. It isn't a written rule that picnics have to be during the day", she said like it was obvious and spread the blanket on the ground. She sat on it and patted the place next to her. Still feeling a little stunned, he sat next to her and watched as she started spreading the containers on the blanket.

She handed him a thermos bottle and he smelled it, it had blood in it. He turned to look at her in question.

"It was kind of awkward that I was the only one eating. So I got you something. Who's gonna see it here?" He smiled and pulled her into a kiss. Maybe he could give her picnics anyway.

.

To be continued...


	8. Moonstruck

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, I don't have any money so it's pointless to sue me.

_Chapter 8: Moonstruck_

As Buffy had promised, she spend more time with Willow and along that also with Xander and Oz. Seeing how Oz was captivated by the new singer Veruca, Buffy had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to end well. She could see the hurt look on Willows face and it also made her feel hurt for her friend. She remembered all too well what it had been like with Angel and Faith, even if it had been fake. Since Willow was spending the night with Oz, she could spend her night with Angel without feeling guilty.

.

Buffy went to the mansion, she sneaked quietly to the bedroom finding Angel still asleep. She was about to sit next to the bed when his hands grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into the bed. She shrieked from surprise and started to giggle. He climbed on top of her trapping her between his hands and legs.

"You were faking", she accused smiling. "You were going to stare", he replied and pressed a kiss to her lips. "I like watching you sleep", she answered and pulled her back into a kiss. He broke the kiss when he noticed the paper she was holding in her hand. He smirked and reached for it.

"What's that?" "Oh, just a paper", she tried to dodge it but he grabbed it from her. Quickly he looked though it and a proud smile rose to his lips.

"This is great. What did I tell you about that brain of yours?", he said and pulled her into a rewarding kiss. "Absolutely nothing comes to my mind", she whispered and pulled him back into a kiss. After he broke the long kiss, he got up from the bed and pulled her up with him.

"Back to business. There's a new werewolf in town." Buffy frowned, she really didn't need a new bad guy since she had just got rid of Spike.

"How do you find out about these things?" "I snoop, ask around, I don't want to be idle." "Maybe I'm not keeping you busy enough", she smirked. Her hands snaked up to the back of his neck and she pulled him into a kiss. After the kiss ended, she let out a satisfied hum and went back to business.

"So, what do you know about this new wolfy? Does he know about being a werewolf or is he like new?" "I think she knows, that she came here because of the Hellmouth, maybe not knowingly but because it drew her here." "So you know it's a she? It's gonna be a full moon tonight, not a lot of time."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure nothing happens", he whispered soothingly to her ear and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Don't jinx it", she warned and leaned more into his strong frame.

.

The next day, she heard from professor Walsh that she had been attacked by two large wild dogs. But Buffy knew better and strongly suspected it had been werewolves. She visited Giles before going to Oz and his behavior made her even more suspicious, something wasn't right. She went to Angel, he always seemed to know what to do and what was going on.

Buffy was leaning against Angels chest and tracing mindless patterns to his arm that was circled around her.

"I think something is wrong. Oz was even less talkative than usual, I had to drag the syllables out of him. Something is bothering him and I don't think it's going to be good for Willow." "I'm sure it's nothing. Oz loves her", he assured and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I hope you're right", she said and leaned into his embrace.

"I should go soon. I need to see Willow and lock Oz into a cage", she said not very enthusiastically and started to rise from the bed.

"Not yet, it's not dark in hours", he stopped her and pulled her back into his arms. "Maybe for a few moments more", she agreed and closed her eyes leaning more into him.

.

The next day, Buffy was on her way to see Willow when she saw her crossing the street like a sleep walker.

"Willow!" she screamed and sprinted into run but she was too far away from her. But at the last minute, Riley pulled Willow out of the road before a car could hit her. Buffy arrived to them and pulled Willow into her arms. When she pulled away, she started checking if there was any scratches on her.

"Willow, are you okay? What happened?" she asked frantically seeing how shook up she looked. "Thank you, Riley. I'm gonna take her home now", Buffy said and gave Riley a grateful smile before leading Willow back to the dorm room.

Willow told her she had found Oz and Veruca together, Buffy tried her best to comfort her but she didn't have the time, it was going to be full moon again and she needed to stop Veruca. She left the dorm room with a heavy heart, she didn't like leaving Willow alone at a time like this but she had no choice. She thought about going to Angel for help but she went to Oz instead. They went after Veruca but came up with her dirty clothes, that's when they realized it was just a distraction and that she was after Willow.

They both sprinted into run, Oz had the head start but Buffy was stopped by running into masked army guys. But she didn't have time to stay and find out what they were, her best friend was targeted by a psycho werewolf. She again sprinted into run and managed to arrive to the scene right in time, Oz was going to attack Willow and Veruca was laying dead on the floor. She attacked Oz, pulling him away from Willow and after a quick fight, she knocked him unconscious. She tied Oz and went to Willow who was sitting motionelessly on the floor. Only tiers were rolling down her cheeks.

,

Buffy went to Giles' apartment and told him about the commandos she had seen. After that she took off to the mansion. She was surprised when she saw Oz stepping out the door. She took a step back to behind a tree and Oz went on his way without even noticing her.

She went inside and found Angel sitting in front of the fire. "I saw Oz leaving", she stated and went to sit next to him. He just nodded and stared into the fire.

"Is everything okay?" "He just needed to know about a place", Angel answered and turned to look at her. She nodded with sad eyes, Willow was going to have it rough. Angel traced her face with his fingers and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

"You wouldn't do that to me, would you? If you found a another souled vampire? I know Oz loves Willow and he has no control over the werewolf side of him. But still", she said with a small voice without looking at him. Angel took hold of her chin and pulled her face up to look at him.

"No matter what, you are the only one for me, soul or no soul. I love you." A lonely tear fell from her eye and she choked out: "I love you too." Buffy pulled him into a kiss and together they leaned against the couch. She hugged him closely and pressed her face against his neck. She was feeling guilty of being in the comforting arms of her boyfriend when Willow was mourning after her own boyfriend. After a long silence she returned to the business talk.

"I think we have new players in town. I don't know what they are but yesterday was the second time I ran into them. Because of them I almost didn't make it in time for Willow", she said and buried her face back into the crook of his neck.

"It's okay", he said softly and stroked her hair soothingly."But you did make it, you saved Willow."

"But I don't think she wants to be saved right now. I can't imagine what she's going through. If you had left me, I don't think I'd be able to live anymore", she said with a small voice keeping her face out of sight. "I'm sure you would have. You are a strong woman", he said, more to himself than her, it had almost happened to her, he had almost left her and now he couldn't imagine a life without her, not that he could before either.

"Yeah. I would have gotten up in the morning, gone to school and slayed. But part of me would have been missing, lost and dead. After I killed you... I ran away to LA, I staid alive but part of me was gone. I don't know what would happen if I lost you for the second time." Angel hushed her and put his finger under her chin, raising her gaze to his.

"You're not going to loose me. Never", he promised with sincerity in his eyes and voice. Buffy could feel the tears in her throat and she wrapped her arms around his neck pressing her face against his shoulder.

"What ever happens to me, I will always be with you", she whispered against his skin and she felt him swallow hard. Neither of them had any doubts that the day would come but they didn't want to think about it. When ever it would come, it would be too soon. Angel took a deep breathe that he didn't need and changed the subject back to business.

"So, the new players, what do they look like?" Buffy was just glad that the conversation was taking a turn away from all the angst.

"Like commandos, they had masks and guns. I really didn't have time to chat with them but I have a feeling they are here to stay. That was the second time I saw them, first time was back in Halloween but I thought they were in costumes. Unless they think it's Halloween all the time."

"I've heard rumors, that something has been making the demon population thinner, other than you." "What would be the odds of those guys being on our side?"

.

It had been days since Oz had left and Willow was heartbroken. Buffy had to watch her best friend in pain and she didn't know what to do to make her feel better, but she guessed there was nothing but time that could make it any better.

She visited Giles and Xander, giving them the patrolling mission for the night, she was going to take Willow to a party, get her mind off of Oz, it was a long shot but worth a try.

Buffy went to the mansion and found Angel reading like many times before. She wondered how many times he had read all those books through.

"Hey", she said and sat next to him. He put the book down and turned to look at her. "Hey." She gave him a small smile and leaned into a gentle kiss.

"Do you think you could do the patrolling tonight? I'm taking Willow to a party to get her mind off of things. I already gave Giles and Xander the patrolling duty but you know, could you do it too, but not tell them, let them feel all manly and stuff?" Angel smiled and let out a small chuckle.

"I can do it. Do you think the party is going to work?" He already knew the answer. Buffy shook her head with a sad expression on her face. "No, but maybe it can take her mind off of Oz for one night. She's hurting so much, Angel." She leaned against his shoulder and breathed in the scent of him.

"It will get better in time. Like they say, time heals all wounds." "You're the one that knows that it doesn't", she said quietly against his skin. "Yeah", he answered sullenly.

-

Buffy took Willow to the Lowell house party but it didn't seem to cheer her up. Riley tried to talk to her but he froze. Sometime later Riley came to her looking like he was about to choke. Buffy looked at him expectantly.

"So you had something to tell me?" Riley shifted nervously and opened his mouth to speak. But he didn't have time when Angel walked in. Buffy felt the tingle and turned around with a wide smile.

"Angel", she whispered breathlessly. Angel stopped in front of her and glanced at Riley measuring him. He didn't like the guy. Buffy saw the jealous look in his eyes and gently slapped his arm.

"What are you doing here?" "Business", he answered and again shifted his gaze to Riley. "Business? Oh..." she grabbed Angels arm and started dragging him away. She turned to Riley and asked: "Riley, could you please tell Willow that I had to go?" When Riley nodded, she gave him a bright smile and continued fleeing the place.

Once they were far enough from the people, she stopped and turned to Angel. "So?" "Who was that guy?" Angel asked trying to hide the jealousy from his voice but not having much luck. Buffy rolled her eyes smiling.

"Riley. He's the TA on psych. Now get over the cave man in you and tell me what's the what." "Spike is back."

"He really should know when to quit", she sighed. "Never his strong point. By the way, Xander send you this", Angel said and handed her the flair gun.

"A flair gun? I'm going to kill Spike not get lost at sea." "He said to signal with it if you get in to trouble. Not sure why he thought that."

"Cause I'm meeting Spike alone", she answered and Angel looked at her not pleased. "What? No you're not."

"Oh, yes I am. Spike wants me, he's not gonna come after me if he sees you. He's not that stupid." Angel frowned.

"I don't want you to face him alone." Buffy smiled, she raised her hand to his cheek and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"You're sweet. My knight in a shining leather duster. But I'm going alone, I can handle him. Besides, I have this flare gun if I get into trouble." "I still don't like it", Angel said gloomily.

.

Buffy was sitting in a chair in the secluded park. She knew Angel was some place near but not near enough to be seen.

Riley and the others sneaked behind the bushes in full army gear. "Trouble. There's a civilian in there", Graham said lowering his binoculars. Riley took them from him and looked to the park. Frown rose to his face.

"It's Buffy. I told you she didn't just ditch me. And what kind of boyfriend let's his girlfriend sit alone in the park after dark." "It's quite convenient, if you were hostile seventeen, wouldn't you go after a luscious thing like that after the crap he's been feeding while in captivity", Forrest piped up and Riley gave him a glare.

"We are not using her as a bait. I'll get rid of her", Riley said and handed his gear to Graham. He went to Buffy who jumped up, ready to stake him but once she saw who it was, she hid the stake behind her back.

"Riley?" "Buffy. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be outside after dark. Where's your boyfriend?" "Oh. I wanted to be alone. I needed to think, in fresh air", she said quickly and looking around himself, she wanted to get rid of Riley before Spike would get to her.

"And that to happen, you need to go away. For me to be alone", she said suggestively when Riley didn't show any signs of leaving.

"I'm not gonna leave you alone in here. It's dangerous." "I can take care of myself", she insisted but Riley didn't seem to listen.

"You're boyfriend may not care enough to think about your safety but..." he started but was interrupted by Buffy who was getting pissed off. "You don't know anything about my boyfriend so don't start judging him", she started to lecture him but was interrupted by a loud scream coming from the dorms. She glanced at the direction where Angel was and sprinted into run.

.

Buffy arrived to the dorm house and it was full of mist. She saw one of the commandos grabbing Willow and raising his gun to hit her. That's when she saw red.

"Get you're hand off of her!" she said with a dangerous voice and once the commando turned around, she fired the flair gun. The flare jumped around the room sending a blinding light. The commandos yelled in pain but Buffy didn't hesitate. She kicked one of the commandos and shoved Willow out of the harms way back into the dorm room. She attacked the commandos, throwing punches at them.

She saw Spike and grabbed the stake. But before she could attack Spike, she was grabbed from behind and before she could get free, he had fled the place. Angel saw Spike fleeing the dorm room and ran inside. He found Buffy fighting against a commando and he grabbed the man from the shoulder. He swung him against the wall and turned to Buffy.

Riley scrambled to his legs and yelled: "Abort the mission!" The commandos ran away not very quickly after the beating they got. Once they were outside, the lights came back to the house. Buffy and Angel looked at each other through the mist. She smiled and pulled him into a quick kiss.

"We better get inside, make sure Willow is okay", she suggested and lead him inside.

-

To be continued...


	9. Whom the bell tolls

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I don't have any money so no use to sue me.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, they are much appreciated. Sorry for the long wait for update but I have had no time for writing because of work. First I didn't have intention of writing Pangs but since I did, writing this took longer than it was supposed to.

A/N1: Some of the dialog is from Buffy season 4 episode Something Blue.

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Chapter 9: Whom the bell tolls

Buffy and Angel were laying on top of the comforter snuggled to each other. Buffy was tracing mindless patterns on his arm and he was stroking her hair. She let out a comfortable sigh and turned to look at him.

"You know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving", she started and Angel gave her a murmur of confirmation. "I was thinking of having a big dinner thing at Giles with the gang. And you", she continued and looked at him expectantly. He shifted nervously and started: "I don't know, Buffy." She sat up and turned to look at him.

"No excuses. I want to have a great holiday, there hasn't been many of them, always some big evil comes and screws everything up. Mom is out of town and Willow is still grieving after Oz. I want to have something normal and you are going to participate", she said leaving no room for arguing. Angel sighed and nodded in defeat.

"Okay, that's settled. You come to Giles' right after it's dark. Don't worry, it won't be that bad and I'll reward you afterwards", she said with a smile and leaned closer to him.

"Oh, how can I refuse now", he said with a small smile playing on his lips. "You can't", she whispered and kissed him.

.

Buffy spend the whole day in Giles' kitchen while the others researched the murders that seemed to be done by Chumash spirit. To everyones surprise Spike showed up to the door and pleaded for help. Willow confirmed that he couldn't bite and just because he knew about the commandos, he was allowed to come in and he got tide up in a chair.

Buffy was on her way to the store when she her name called. She turned around and saw Riley.

"Riley? Where'd you come from?", she asked in surprise and smiled politely. "Just across the street. And couple of blocks down", he answered and smiled nervously. Buffy's presence always made him feel like a young school boy.

"That's a long coincidental meeting." "Eh... So what are you doing here at this time of night. It's Thanksgiving you know, shouldn't you be having dinner with your family?" he changed the subject.

"Oh. My mom is out of town, at my aunts. I'm making the big dinner and spending the night with my friends." Riley smiled, she didn't mention a boyfriend and it gave him some hope. "So what about you?" she asked and he felt like flying, she was keeping the conversation going.

"I'm going to catch a flight to Iowa. I'm spending the holidays with my family", he answered and watched her face closely, hoping some trace of disappointment.

"That's nice. But I guess you should go catch that flight of yours. And I have to run to the store for some last minute shopping", she said and started to turn away. He took hold of her arm and she turned around looking at him expectantly.

"I'll see you after the holidays", he said hopefully and she smiled nodding. "Yeah. Have fun", she said and left without noticing Angel standing in the shadows with very grim look on his face.

.

Buffy went back to Giles' and found a very sick Xander but no Angel. She started to feel angry that he hadn't shown up. She threw the food into the fridge and left to the mansion.

She stomped into the mansion and found very agitated looking Angel.

"Why are you still here? You were supposed to show up in Giles'. I even actually cooked" she said trying to keep her anger in check but not having much luck with it.

"What do you need me for in there? It's not like I can eat anything, I'm a vampire, remember. Why don't you ask that boy for dinner?" he said vehemently and Buffy forgot her own anger, she just looked at him confused.

"What? What boy?" "That college kid that always follows you like a lost puppy." "Riley?" she asked still confused but then started to feel the anger again. "You didn't come because of Riley? What has gotten into you? I'm not interested in him."

"You two seemed pretty cozy to me. I saw you talking with him." Buffy's face darkened. "Stop being such a Neanderthal! I have no interest in Riley. He's just the TA. I'm with you if you haven't forgotten or do you think I'm so loose that I'll jump the first guy I see now that we can be together?!"

"No! I don't mean that. But that guy has a thing for you", he defended and ran his hand across his hair nervously, it wasn't going as he had planned, well he hadn't planned it at all.

"That's ridicules, he doesn't have a thing for me", she laughed without humor. "I know what I see, the way he looks at you, he wants you." "So just because you think he wants me, you start acting like jealous teenager. You think I'm just going to jump into his arms because he's interested in me?"

"No. But he's normal. He's human. I'm not", Angel answered and looked away. "We're not going to this again. I don't want a normal guy! I want you! Why doesn't that sink into your big head?!" she said placing her hands on her hips. They looked fiercely into each others eyes before he lunged at her and pulled her into a burning kiss.

After a long kiss he pulled back, she was breathing heavily but she wasn't any less angry. "I'm still angry at you. You're not getting away with it that easily", she said right before he attacked her lips again.

.

Angel rolled off of her landing to the cold floor. For a moment he stared at the ceiling trying to get his mind working again. He turned to look at Buffy, she was breathing heavily, her hair tousled and glued to her skin by sweat, her lips red and puffy. She turned to look at him. He reached his hand and smoothed her hair back.

"I'm sorry that I broke my promise, and that I acted like a jealous school boy", he said and she gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry too. And you didn't exactly promise to come so you didn't brake a promise. But you really should get over the normal thing. All I want is you, I don't care that you are a vampire, I got over it and you should too", she said and pulled him into a kiss. After a while she pulled back and jumped up from the floor looking for her clothes.

"We better get to Giles', we still have a Thanksgiving dinner and some revenging spirits to deal with", she said while pulling her shirt on. "Buffy..." he began to protest and started to rise from the floor but she threw his pants to his head.

"No protesting, you're coming. Besides, I've got blood for you so you're eating too", she said with tone that told him there was no room for arguing. Slowly he got up and pulled the pants on. After they were dressed, they headed to Giles' apartment.

.

Buffy walked inside and Angel stepped in also, but he was feeling awkward about just walking in. He turned and saw Spike tide to a chair.

"What is he doing here?" he asked surprised. "Oh, Spike, he's neutered by the commandos. He came to us for help", Buffy answered and headed to the kitchen.

"Well, if it isn't the big poof. I figured you'd gone on a killing spree by now or left the chit. For her own good of course, for sunshine, real human boy and all that crap", Spike said cockily even though he was in no position to defy his grand sire.

"Shut up, Spike", he said angrily since that was just what he had been planning before his soul was made permanent.

"And I see you didn't turn into Angelus even though last time I saw you, you two were doing it like it was end of the world soon. The girl doesn't do it for you anymore, eh?" "Shut up, Spike! My soul is bound", Angel growled and then realized what Spike had said. The though of Spike seeing Buffy naked made his blood boil and he lunged at Spike but before he reached him, he was stopped by Giles. Angel looked at Giles and then turned his gaze down, feeling embarrassed but still fighting to keep his anger in check.

"Why don't you come to the kitchen before Buffy destroys it", Giles suggested and lead him to the kitchen. Once seeing Buffy concentrated in cooking, he started to calm down. He smiled and went to her. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her shoulder.

"How is it working out?" he asked and she gave him a scolding look. "I'm no cook. I have experience in eating food, not making it. But nothing is going to stop me." He smiled and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "That's my girl."

"You could help me out. I remember you talking about idle hands", she suggested and almost let out a moan when he pressed a kiss to her neck where his mark was. His hands were trailing her arms and he whispered with a soft but low voice to her ear: "But my hands are not idle right now." Her breathing started to speed up and her thoughts started to get muddled. With the last strength she had, she pulled away and looked at him like mother telling little boy that he had been naughty.

"Stop that. Were at Giles' house. Peel a carrot or something", she said and threw a raw carrot to his hand. He smiled and started to do what he was told.

.

Buffy and Angel set the table and everyone were trying to ignore Spike. "Hey! How 'bout some blood! I'm starving!" "Spike, shut up", Buffy said to him and continued what she was doing.

"I demand to get food, I came here to help you people and this is how you treat your ally", Spike continued. "You came to us because you had no one else, you're not a ally so stop whining or I will gag you", Buffy threatened and Spike was about to shoot a comeback but was interrupted by a arrow flying across the room. Everyone ducked down and the arrows kept on coming. Angel was about to jump up but Buffy pulled him down.

"Angel, those are made of wood", she said with fear in her eyes, but the fear was not for her. "I can't just stay still when you're in danger", he answered. "And I don't want you to get killed." She glanced at the weapons chest and tried to make a run for it. She dodged arrows and slid across the floor to the chest. She grabbed it and ran back to cover but she was hit with a arrow to her forearm.

"Buffy", Angel said frantically and pulled her closer. "It needs to be taken out", he said and Buffy gave him her consent with her eyes and a nod. He grabbed the base of the arrow and quickly pulled it out. She winced but didn't let out a sound. He tore his shirt and swiftly wrapped the scrap around the wound.

Angel took a axe from the chest and pressed a quick kiss to her lips before jumping up and running outside dodging arrows. "Angel!" Buffy yelled after him but it was too late. Buffy grabbed a crossbow from the chest and started shooting towards the spirits. But it was no use. The leader attacked with a war cry and Buffy grabbed a knife from the chest.

They fought aggressively but she didn't seem to manage to harm the spirit. She didn't even notice the other warrior approaching before he collapsed to the floor when Angel threw one of the warriors knife into it's back.

"It's the weapons", Angel yelled before he was grabbed from behind but Buffy understood. She kicked the spirit and grabbed the knife from the air, slicing him to the arm. Blood pooled around the wound. The spirit let out a angry scream and slowly he started to turn into a large bear. Buffy looked at it with wide eyes but didn't have time to react when it knocked her across the room. The bear turned when it was hit by a raw potato.

"That's for giving me syphilis!" Xander yelled angrily and kept throwing things at it. Buffy sneaked behind it, hit it to the back and once it turned, she dived the knife into its heart. Slowly the bear changed into the human form and he turned into mist. All the warriors disappeared into the air.

Angel came to Buffy's side and looked at her checking her injuries. "I'm okay", she assured and placed her hand to his cheek. He pressed a soft kiss to her wrist but the moment was interrupted by Spike.

"Hey, what about me!? I'm not okay, I've got bloody arrows sticking out of me!" he yelled and the others turned to look at him. He had several arrows in his body and all of them had missed the heart. "Let's clean up and start the dinner", Buffy said ignoring Spike.

.

It had been a week since thanksgiving and school was back on. Buffy was trying to drag some information out of Spike but it didn't seem to be working.

She was sitting on the edge of the tub that Spike was tide into with chains. "You saw the commandos, what did they look like?" she asked tired of this conversation. "They were humans." "That's a big help", Buffy said rolling her eyes.

"What about the lab?" "It was underground. I came out through an air vent, I don't know exactly where. I'm done. Put the telly on", Spike demanded. Giles stepped into the bathroom with a cup of blood in his hand.

"Anything?" he asked but Buffy just shook her head. "'Bout time. Hope you got it warm enough." Buffy took the cup from Giles and offered it to Spike. He started drinking greedily and she just looked at him disgusted.

"Don't know why you're so dainty all of a sudden. You've done this for Angel. You must've", he said and she pulled the cup away from him, the straw left hanging between his lips. "Hey! Give it!" Spike protested the straw swinging between his lips.

"That's it. The invalid amnesiac routine is over. Kitchen closed 'til you tell me something useful about the commandos", she said with tone that gave no room for negotiation. "I'm trying to remember. It was very traumatic." "How long are you going to pull this crap?" she sighed. "How long am I gonna live once I tell you?"

"Spike, we've no intention of killing a harmless creature. But we need to know what's been done to you. We can't let you go until we're sure you're impotent", Giles joined the conversation. "Hey!" "Sorry. Poor choice of words. 'Til we know you're..." Giles said feeling slight sympathy for the vampire.

"Flaccid?" offered Buffy taunting him more. "You're one step away, missy...", Spike threatened and Buffy gave him a fake fearful expression. "Giles, help! He's gonna scold me!" Spike lunged forward but the chains didn't give him much room to move.

"You know what? I think you don't want us to let you go. Maybe we made it too comfy here." "Comfy? Do I look comfy? I'm chained in a bathtub drinking pig's blood from a novelty mug!"

"You want something nicer?", she said almost seductively and leaned closer to Spike bending her neck giving him the full view of the skin. "Ooh... look at my poor neck, all bare and tender and delicious...", she taunted him gliding her finger across the skin up and down. Spike licked his lips and leaned closer. He was like hypnotized.

"All that blood just pumping away..." "Giles, make her stop!" Spike pleaded to the watcher. Buffy sat straighter and continued like nothing had happened: "You wanna start again?" Spike glared at her. "You're inhuman."

Giles sighed rolling his eyes and stepped out of the room. He was startled when he came face to face with Angel. "Angel, you frightened me", he said while steading his breathing.

"Sorry Giles. I just came to make sure Buffy was alright", he said and looked away. "She's fine. She's taunting Spike", Giles answered and gestured to the bathroom door. "I'm going to go see her", Angel said and went to the bathroom.

He came inside right in time to see Buffy with her neck bare, her finger gliding along the pulse line. He let out a jealous growl while seeing Spike looking hungrily at her. She turned to him and smiled with twinkle in her eyes.

"Hello, lover", she said with a seductive tone in her voice. "Come on, Angelus. Make her stop. The chit has been on my back all evening. I want to watch Passions!" Spike said from the tub but Angel just send him a cold glare. Angel grabbed Buffy's hand and pulled her standing up. "Time for patrol", he simply said and pulled her with him.

.

Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed snuggled into each other. "She's hurting so much. And I don't know how to make her feel any better. Like tonight she was actually drunk, I've never seen her drunk before", she said while her finger was making circles on his skin.

"She's trying to find a way to relief the pain. But soon she'll find out that the alcohol doesn't make it go away."

"I know. I think she'll find that out in the morning when she has the hang over. I better start leaving soon, I need to be there before she wakes up. I don't like this sneaking around but I don't want to make her feel any worse cause I have you, to remind her of what she had with Oz. When did everything become so complicated", she said and sighed deeply.

"She'll get over it in time. Her feelings may not but she'll feel less pain", he comforted and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" she asked and turned to look at him. A small smile played on his lips. "One or two times." "Just so you don't forget, I love you, Angel", she said and pulled him into a soft kiss full of love.

.

Buffy sneaked into the dorm room before dawn. She changed into her pajamas and went to bed without knowing that Willow had been wake all night and she had heard her sneaking in.

The next day they were both busy with school and Giles visited Willow, feeling very disappointed when she hadn't filled her promise of making a truth spell on Spike. Willow tried to have some girl time with Buffy but Giles called that Spike had escaped. To both Buffy's and Spikes surprise he was found right outside the dorm house.

Buffy dragged Spike back to Giles' apartment and threw him inside. "Hey! Watch it! Are you always this rough. This is a whole new look on you, Angelus been teaching you bondage?" Buffy looked at him disgusted and snapped: "Shut up, Spike! Or I'll..."

"Or you what? You haven't got the balls to stake me, girly", Spike taunted and Buffy started to feel anxious. "I let you know, I've got plenty of... balls." "You're all talk."

"Giles! I accidentally killed Spike! That's okay, right?" she yelled into the apartment. They were both steaming and ready to strangle each other.

"Once this bloody thing is out of my head, you will meet your maker, I will torture you so good that you will pray me to kill you", Spike threatened through gritted teeth. "Oh you're so full of it. Just try it now, I'm itching for some good dusting", she shot back.

Neither of them knew what was happening elsewhere. "She's always spending time with Angel, sneaking out and sneaking in. Even Spike's more important than Willow. I get it", Willow ranted feeling more hurt by the minute.

"Buffy's gotta find out what's up with those commandos. Right now she needs Spike", Xander tried to reason, he didn't like it either and the news about Buffy sneaking out to spend a night with Angel made his jealousy bubble, he had never liked the vampire. "Well fine! Why doesn't she just go and marry them?" Willow said and her eyes flashed with light.

Back in Giles' apartment, Giles walked into the living room rubbing his forehead feeling frustrated. "Now if you two can remain civil long enough to..." he started but stopped dead on his tracks when he saw what was happening before him. Spike was on the floor on one knee holding Buffy's hand. She was smiling widely but clearly moved and trying to hold back the tears.

"It's just so.. So sudden! I don't know what to say!" she said blinking back the tears. "Just say yes, and make me the happiest man on earth", he answered and placed a soft kiss to her knuckles. "Oh, Spike! Of course it's yes!" she answered and Spike smiled widely, pulling her to him and into a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, they looked at each other smiling like a happy couple and then she turned to Giles.

"Giles! You'll never believed what's happened! Spike and I are getting married! Isn't that great!?" she said clearly ecstatic. Giles looked at the couple even more confused than he had been a minute ago.

.

Giles was on the phone trying to get a hold on Willow while Buffy was sitting on the couch snuggled into Spikes side.

"What are we going to tell Angel? I'm not leaving him", Buffy said tracing his features with her finger. Spike frowned and gave her a hard look.

"I'm not sharing my woman with the poof and I don't care what he thinks!" Buffy straightened up and shifted a bit away from him. "I am not giving up on Angel. I may get married with you but Angel is part of the deal. Don't worry, it doesn't make me love you any less", she said and added the last seductively, running her finger along his lower lip. He looked at her still frowning but gave in.

"Fine. Anything to make you happy. But I don't like it", he said and she gave him a bright smile before leaning into a passionate kiss. Before the kiss deepened further, they heard a angry growl from behind them. They pulled away and turned to see a very pissed off Angel. He was barely keeping his anger in check.

"Guess what honey, Spike asked me to marry him", Buffy said smiling widely while Spike smirked gleefully. "What?!" Angel growled out. Buffy got up from the couch ignoring Spikes protest. She walked to Angel and placed her hand on his chest.

"Come on, honey. Don't be that way. Nothing's gonna change between us", she said and pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth.

"Thank God, Angel. Maybe you can talk some sense into her", Giles said walking into the room after he had finished his phone call.

"You're not marrying Spike, cause you're marrying me", Angel said, bent into one knee and pulled out the Claddagh ring. Tears came into Buffy's eyes and she placed her hand above her heart. "Oh Angel", she managed to choke out.

.

Buffy was sitting on the couch in between Spike and Angel while Giles was sitting in a armchair nursing a drink. He couldn't believe what was happening and he had been living on a Hellmouth for several years.

"I'm gonna keep my own name cause Buffy Bloody O'Roarke sounds like something Spike would say", she said while doing the wedding plans on a piece of paper.

"And my mom is so gonna freak", she added with wide eyes as she realized it. "Cause of Angel she is. She likes me", Spike said and all but stuck his tongue at Angel while saying it. "She'll learn to live with it", she said and got up from the couch, sitting next to Giles to the arm of the chair.

"Giles, I'm not crazy and I know you probably don't approve... and my Dad's not that far away, I could probably... but this day is about family, my real family. And I want it to be you that gives me away", she said feeling little nervous. Giles turned to look at her clearly touched and feeling honored.

"Buffy, I... That's so...", he started clearly out of words from the emotion but then he stopped. "Oh for God's sake! This is nonsense! Something is making you act this way! Don't you realize what you're doing!?" he said feeling a little agitated. Buffy turned to look at the two vampires with a dreamy look on her face.

"Living the dream." "He's going to have to take a bit of time to get to used to it, pet", Spike assured and Angel turned to glare at him. "He's not going to get used to you, you aren't the dream son in law for anyone", he said and Spike just gave him the finger.

"Guys, no pickering. If you picker before the wedding, there will be no wedding night", she threatened. The vampires glanced at each other and then Buffy. "And how are you planning on doing the wedding night?" Spike asked but before anyone could say anything Giles raised his hand stopping them.

"Could you please not discuss that subject with me present." "Yeah. He's like a dad to me and no father wants to know what happens during the wedding night", Buffy added and rolled her eyes when she saw Spike smirking.

.

Giles was sitting on the chair holding the glass in other hand and bottle of scotch in the other. "So the plan is to cure my total incapacitating blindness tomorrow, is it?" he asked without looking at the others since he couldn't see them or right now didn't want to either.

"Yeah, Angel visited the magic shop. They were out of Taggis Root. They'll have more tomorrow. I'm completely on top of this", Buffy assured and placed the three cake people to the coffee table. "Aren't they perfect. But we'll need to dye the others hair. He's not blond enough", she said and placed them so that the bride was in the middle.

"The other isn't broody enough. He needs a good deep frown to pass as the poof", Spike said and Buffy smacked him playfully. "Remember what I said about the pickering and wedding night?" she reminded and Spike went quiet.

"So, strawberry or chocolate cake?" she asked getting back to the wedding talk. "How about both? No need to choose, I want you to have the best", Angel whispered into her ear and sucked her earlobe into his mouth.

"Hey! No making out with my future wife", Spike yelled and Giles sighed feeling like her was going to loose his mind any second now. "Please stop it! All of you! It is a damn spell!" he yelled frustrated and that's when Xander and Anya crashed through the door.

"Barricade! Demons, lots and lots of demons!" Xander yelled. Then he turned to the others and saw that Buffy was sitting between Angel and Spike holding hands with both.

"What's going on?" he asked confused. "I guess this is the time tell the news", Spike said and Buffy turned to Xander smiling brightly.

"I'm getting married! Spike proposed", she announced and with Angels pointed look she added: "And so did Angel. So we're getting married." Xander stared at them stunned.

"What? How? What?" "Three excellent questions", Giles piped up. "They'll get used to it", Spike assured her and pulled her into a kiss. Xander turned to look at Giles and said: "Can I be blind too?"

Angel pulled Buffy away from Spike braking the kiss and puled her into a passionate kiss. "Can't have him have the last word", he whispered to her ear and placed a small kiss next to her ear. "I hope you're going to be this rivalry through the marriage", she said smirking. Then something hit Xander.

"Wait. Married. I know something. What is it? This is all so familiar. Work, brain, work. Oh! Oh-oh! Willow!" "What about Willow?" Buffy asked turning to Xander. "Something about Willow and her grief-y poor-me mood swings. So, so tired of it." "You mean I don't have to be nice to her anymore?" Anya asked hopefully. Buffy rolled her eyes and asked: "What's it have to do with what's going on?"

"She told me I was a demon magnet. And.. And she said you two should get married to dead boy and dead boy Junior." "And that I didn't see anything", Giles said the realization hitting him.

"She did a spell." "Yes, to have her will done. Whatever she says is coming true", clarified Giles. "And both you guys were affected. I probably only escaped it because I'm the Slayer. Some kind of natural immunity."

"Yeah. Right. You're marrying Spike because you're so right for each other", Xander said sarcastically. Angel turned to Buffy and squeezed her hand. "I hate say this. But I think Xander is right, it must be the spell affecting you." Buffy looked at him not believing him. "Are you doubting my love for Spike? Just because you're jealous of him doesn't mean..." she started but was interrupted by Angel. "I'm not jealous of Spike!"

"People... Willow's still out there, and she probably has no idea what she's doing", Giles said as the voice of reason. "We've gotta find her..." Xander started and Buffy finished for him: "Before someone really gets hurt."

.

Buffy, Angel, Spike, Xander and Anya went to the dorm room but didn't find Willow. The room was empty and Anya confirmed that a demon, D'Hoffryn that had made her a demon, had taken Willow into another dimension. They went to a cemetery where Anya tried to summon him but they were interrupted by demons that attacked them. They fought the demons that seemed to be coming more and more by the minute and they were loosing the fight.

Buffy got knocked on the ground. "Buffy!" Angel and Spike yelled at the same time and rushed to her side. Neither of them noticed Willow appearing into the crypt and undoing the spell. A bright light flashed through the room and the demons disappeared.

Buffy opened her eyes and stared into Spikes eyes, her eyes growing larger with the realization. "Oh God! I kissed Spike!" she screamed and started to wipe her mouth. "Slayer!" Spike bit out in disgust. He jumped up but didn't get far when Angels fist collided with his chin. He fell to the ground and stared into the angry eyes of his grand sire.

"It was the bloody spell!" he defended himself, Angel looked dangerously too close to Angelus for his liking. "Hey guys", Willow said weakly and waved her hand.

.

The gang was sitting in Giles' living room, Spike was tide to a chair and Willow was making more cookies than anyone could eat.

"Eat a cookie, ease my pain?" she said and offered a chocolate chip cookie to Buffy. She took a cookie from the plate and took a bite from it. "Better?" she asked still a little concerned.

"Well, baking lifts at least thirty percent of my guilt. But only seven percent of my inner turmoil. That'll take a while, I guess", Willow answered and Buffy squeezed her arm in comfort. "It'll happen", she assured.

"Now I'm going to take some cookies with me and go to Angel. I think he's having some trouble with the fact that he was about to get married with me and Spike. More like having trouble with the Spike part." "What about you?" Willow asked feeling a little guilty. Buffy sighed deeply. "It was weird, it's still weird. I was actually in love with Spike. I can't even stand him." "At least you two were getting along", Willow offered. "No, we weren't. But even if I was totally in love with him, it wasn't even close to what I feel for Angel."

"Maybe it's because it's the real thing with Angel", Willow said understandingly and gave her best friend a small smile. "I love you, Willow. And I'm going to go and forget Spike, And try to make Angel forget him too."

.

Buffy and Angel were sitting in front of the fire wrapped only in a blanket. He was stoking her hair and placing kisses on her shoulder every now and then.

"Feel better?" she asked and pressed a kiss to the back of his wrist. "Some. But I'm still fighting the urge to go and stake him for touching you." Buffy smiled like it was the sweetest thing he had ever said to her.

"Yeah. Me too. But we still need him to find out about the commando guys." "Yeah, but I don't like it. I have never been jealous of him. Before now. He got to kiss you", he said with a small voice. Buffy turned in his arms and looked right into his eyes. She trailed his chin while speaking.

"It's never going to happen again. It was the spell. You are the only guy I will ever want. Even with the spell, I didn't feel even a half for him what I feel for you", she said and pressed a soft kiss to his chin. Angel pulled her into a more thorough kiss and after he let go of her lips, he smoothed her hair looking at her thoughtfully.

"You turned my world upside down, Buffy. When I'm with you, I feel things I have never felt before and jealousy is one of them." Buffy gave him a small half smile and kissed him softly. She looked down at her hands and saw the Claddagh ring still in her finger.

"Where did you find this?" she asked with a small emotional voice. Angel looked down where her gaze was and covered her hands with his bringing them up and placing a kiss to her ring finger.

"When I returned from Hell, it was the first thing I saw. Later when I was tidying up this place, I found it in a corner. I think it's what brought me back", he answered and went quiet for a while before continuing: "And I'd like you to keep it on. If you want." Tears rose to her eyes and she stared at him. Angel felt the fear invade his heart before a small smile broke into her lips as the tears slipped from her eyes.

"Of course I want to", she said with a tear strained voice and pressed her face against his neck. He wrapped his arms around her more firmly and pressed his face into her hair. He closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her head.

To be continued...


	10. Sounds of silence

**A/N: Sorry about the late update but my computer wasn't cooperating with me. It's a new computer but it decided to wipe out the whole chapter I had just written. **

**A/N2:** Some of the dialog is taken from the episodes Hush and Doomed.

'

_Chapter 10: Sounds of silence_

Professor Walsh was giving a lecture about human behavior in front of the class but Buffy's mind was drifting to Angel who had suddenly appeared to the door.

"... It's about thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for. A demonstration. Buffy Summers", professor Walsh continued and Buffy turned to her in surprise but rose from her seat anyway.

"Typical college girl, one assumes. Lie down on my desk", Walsh continued and Buffy looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Go ahead." Reluctantly Buffy laid on the desk, keeping herself up on her forearms so she could see what was going on.

"You mister, who interrupted my class, come forward, you are volunteering for this demonstration", Walsh said and signed Angel to come in. He walked to the desk looking at Buffy.

"A kiss is just a kiss, I believe the line goes. The rest comes from you." Angel bend down closer to Buffy who smiled nervously.

"This is weird", she whispered but Angel smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down", he whispered to her ear and claimed her lips in a sensual kiss. Slowly the lights dimmed and when they broke the kiss, sun had set and the class room was empty.

Buffy jumped down from the table and looked around herself, she could here a tuneless humming. She looked at Angel and he nodded confirming that he could hear it also. They walked down the hall and stopped when they saw a little girl singing to herself:

"Can't even shout. Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors... They need to take seven and they might take yours..." She saw a little wooden box on the girls hands. "Can't call to mom. Can't say a word. You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard", the girl continued singing.

Angel stepped closer to her and took her hand into his. She turned but there was no Angel. At the doorway stood Riley holding a stake in his hand and suddenly a white wickedly grinning face appeared in front of her. She was startled awake and she looked frantically around her, she was still at the psych class.

.

Buffy and Willow headed out of the class. Willow teased her of sleeping and assured her she didn't drool.

"Hey!" Riley hollered as he ran to Buffy and Willow. "Hey", was their answer. "I'm going to the wicca group meeting, I'll see you at home", Willow said with a smile and left them alone. Buffy and Riley started along the hall.

"So, you looked like you were having fun during the class", he said smiling. Buffy looked around herself feeling a bit embarrassed. "Not all that great. It was... intense." "Oh? But you looked so peaceful. And you were smiling at first", he said. A small smile rose to her lips as she remembered the start of her dream. "Oh, I had a good start at it." Riley looked at her closely, they had been talking a lot lately and they had some spark, so he just decided to go for it.

"So, what are you doing now? Would you like to go have coffee?" Buffy was surprised by the question and she turned quickly to him. "Coffee?" she asked confused and Riley smiled, she looked real cute.

"Yeah, it's this hot drink." "Oh, that's what it is, now I know what all those kids are talking about", she joked but her mind was racing, had Riley just asked her for coffee. Maybe it was just school business and her mind was drifting into the gutter. Riley smiled and gave a small laughter.

"So how 'bout it? You and me with some coffee?" Buffy shifted nervously, she hadn't heard wrong and it didn't sound like school business. "I don't know, I have to do the homework thing right now", she tried to dodge.

"Well, we could reschedule. I can't tonight, I'm having fun at rating papers." "I heard that is great fun. If you pass mine, could you give me full points?" she smiled and earned one from Riley. "We'll see about that", he promised.

.

Buffy called Giles about the dream and he promised to look into the matter. After that she headed to the mansion, it was a habbit that she went to Angel's to do her homework, he would never help her but she got rewarded afterwards.

Buffy closed the psych book with a loud thump and got up from her seat. She glanced at Angel who was reading on the couch. She went to him and pulled the book out of his hands. He looked at her in question but she just smirked and placed the book on the coffee table.

After that she sat on his lap straddling him and said with a breathy voice: "I finished my homework, made my brain work real hard. And I think I deserve a reward." She was leaning close to his face, her lips hovering closely to his but not touching. He stared at her lips, they were just begging to be kissed and he could feel her every puff of breathe.

"I guess nothing in life is free", he said and pulled her into a sensual kiss. He deepened the kiss, his hands circled around her body and he pulled her more closer to his. When they broke apart, she was out of breathe and it felt like her mind had stopped working. She let out a satisfied sigh and placed her head against his shoulder.

"Wow. But now it's time for the shop talk. I think I had a prophetic dream", she said regretfully and played with the hem of his shirt.

"Tell me", he encouraged and took hold of her hand, bringing it to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Her demonstration was making him very distracted. Buffy told him the short version of the dream and he decided to ignore the fact that she had fell asleep during class. It was probably his fault cause he was keeping her up all night. He was pulled away from his thoughts by a soft slap and he turned to look at her.

"Don't go there. It wasn't your fault I fell asleep. Not everything is about you, you know", she said. "Old habits", he defended and turned back to the topic in question: "I don't think I've heard about the Gentlemen, and I've been around for some time."

"Yeah. Well, I already called to Giles and he's looking into it. But what ever they are, I don't like it. They were really creepy", she said and leaned more closely into him. "We'll beat them like we always do", he assured her and she turned to look him with a small smirk playing on her lips.

"Ooh... Aren't we feeling positive. That's a whole new look for you." "I'm full of surprises", he answered deadpanned.

.

Buffy woke up with a start, she had overslept and not crept back to the dorm room. She rolled around and glanced at Angel, he was still sleeping. She resisted the urge to kiss him but she didn't want to wake him up and she had to get back to the dorm room.

She started to get up but was pulled back to the bed. She let out a startled yelp and turned to look into Angels sleepy eyes. They stared into each others both knowing that there hadn't left a sound from her.

"Angel?" she asked but again there was no sound. "Buffy?" he asked but there was no voice either. "So I'm not deaf", she mouthed when she saw the surprised but still brooding look on Angels face. The more he thought, the more his face went more serious.

Then he turned to look at Buffy expression of recognition on his face and quickly he rolled over to the night table. He took a paper pad and wrote to it. 'Can't even shout. Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by' he wrote to the pad and Buffy understood what he meant.

"The gentlemen did this?" she mouthed and he nodded. 'I think so', he wrote to the pad. Buffy nodded and got out of bed looking for her clothes. Angel got up after her and turned her around.

"Are you okay?" he mouthed and Buffy nodded with a sad smile. He pulled her into a comforting hug and placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. She turned to look at him and mouthed: "I love you." She pressed a kiss to his lips and took the pad from him. 'I need to go, tell the gang what's happening', she wrote to it and he nodded in understanding. She turned to leave but he grabbed her hand spinning her around.

"Be careful." She smiled and answered: "You too." She kissed him quickly and left.

.

Buffy went to the dorm room where Willow was slowly panicking. After she had calmed down, they went to Giles' but he told them there wasn't any information about the Gentlemen in his books. The day went on but there wasn't much that they could do without any information.

Buffy visited Angel and told him she couldn't spend the night cause she couldn't leave Willow alone and as always, Angel understood it completely. They parted ways and the next morning Buffy found a college student, murdered and missing a heart. Giles made them a presentation of what he had found about the Gentlemen but it wasn't all that much help since they still didn't have a way to kill the Gentlemen since they didn't have their voices which seemed to be the only thing that could kill them.

Buffy was sitting on the couch snuggled into Angel and they were both staring at the fire in front of them. The only sound in the room was the cracking of the fire. Buffy sighed deeply and pressed her face against his neck. He turned to look at her, stroking her back soothingly. He pressed a soft kiss to her hair and she pulled to look at him.

"I think we need to patrol", she mouthed and he nodded but neither of them made a move to get up. "I don't know how to beat this", she mouthed fearfully and turned to look away. He took hold of her chin and turned her to face him. "You will. And I will help you", he mouthed and pressed a kiss to her lips. She immediately felt more calm and gave him a small smile. She grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her. They grabbed weapons and left the mansion.

After a quick sweep to the cemetery they ended up to the campus. Buffy turned to face Angel and touched his hand to grab his attention. "We better split up", she mouthed but he didn't look happy about it. He shook his head and mouthed a no.

"We can be more help if we split, we'll meet here in 45 minutes", she suggested and he understood she was right but he didn't like. He nodded clearly not liking it. He took hold of her arms and focused her gaze to his. "Be careful. I mean it", he said and she nodded. "You too", she answered before they went on their own paths.

Not long after they split, Buffy saw the Gentlemen heading towards the clock tower. She turned to look if Angel was still in sight but she was attacked by two of the henchmen in straitjackets. The fight wasn't all that long, she needed to go after the main prize. She snapped the others neck and it fell to the ground lifeless. The other fled the scene running towards the clock tower and Buffy ran after it.

The henchman ran to a room that had boards in its windows and Buffy jumped through the boards into the room knocking down the henchman she was chasing. She hit it hard and reached for her crossbow. She turned around and came face to face with Riley in his commando gear a riffle pointed at her. They stared surprised at each other but they didn't have time for questions when a henchmen attacked them.

Buffy kicked one of the henchmen and send it flying across the room. She immediately started fighting another, throwing punches and kicks at it. The henchman scrambled up from the ground and started to run up the stairs. Buffy glanced at Riley and since he seemed to be managing on his own, she went after the demon.

She ran up the stairs and saw the shrine, five jars on it. She didn't have time for anything when bunch of henchmen tackled her to the floor and pinned her down. She tried to struggle but it didn't seem to be working. Her eyes widened as she saw two gentlemen approaching with scalpel in hand.

Suddenly the gentleman was knocked down and Buffy turned to see Angel beating it with rage. "Angel", she said in relief but no one heard her. Buffy knocked the henchmen off of her while Angel grabbed the scalpel and sunk it into the gentleman. It did nothing to it and then he was grabbed by two henchmen from behind. They started fighting and Riley joined the fight also.

Buffy was thrown to the ground and that's when she saw the box. She remembered her dream and knew she had to get to the box. Angel had managed to fight off the henchmen when she saw Buffy being grabbed. She was hit hard making the blood surface and that made him full of rage. When a henchman slashed him, he couldn't keep the rage in check and his vamp face surfaced. Riley saw him change into a vampire and fired his gun at him, making Angel fall down from the electric shock running through his body.

"Angel!" Buffy screamed automatically still no voice coming from her. She was grabbed and laid against the table, gentleman with a scalpel approaching her. She tried to signal Riley to mash the box but he hit a jar with a heart in it with his gun. Buffy rolled her eyes even though she was one step away from being dis-hearted.

Angel knocked Riley out of the way and smashed the box. Mist filled the room and Buffy knocked the henchmen off of her. She rolled away from them and took a deep breathe letting out a deafening scream. The gentlemen froze and soon their heads exploded spilling the green goo all over the place.

After the demons had fell to the floor, headless, Buffy turned to look at Angel grinning, not even noticing that he had his vamp face on. Angel walked to her and pulled her into a comforting hug.

"I haven't heard you screaming in so long time", he whispered to her ear grinning. Buffy turned to look at him, a small smile rising to her lips. "Yeah? I haven't had a reason to scream like a girl in a long time. By the way, I like your voice", she answered and pulled him into a kiss without even remembering that Riley was still in the room. He was looking at the couple kissing and he felt disgusted by the fact that the girl he had a crush was kissing a vampire like he was the love of her life. Slowly Angel's game face shifted away and he pulled away from her lips.

"I like hearing your voice too", he whispered to her ear like he was confessing his love for her and he pressed a soft kiss next to her ear. But their moment was interrupted by Riley clearing his throat and looking at them expectantly while playing with the wooden chair leg in his hand. Instinctively Buffy stepped in front of him and looked sternly at Riley.

"Don't even think about it", she said with her authority voice. "What are you? I know what that is, but what are you?" Riley asked stepping one step closer. "Capricorn. On the cusp of Aquarius. You?" Buffy asked and placed hands on her hips.

"Sorry. Came out a little blunter than I intended. It's just... You're amazing. Your speed, your strength..." Riley started apologizing forgetting Angels presence. "Also passionate, artistic And inquisitive. But who are you?" Buffy answered getting tired of the conversation. "You know who I am. The rest... What I do... I can't tell you." Buffy glanced at Angel who was glaring at the commando, then she shifted her gaze back to him.

"Then, let me. You're part of some military monster squad that rounds up demons, vampires. You probably have official sounding euphemisms for them like 'Unfriendlies' or 'Non-sapiens...'", she started hitting a little too close to home. "It's Hostile Sub-Terrestrials", Riley clarified.

"There you go. So you deliver these... 'HSTs' to a bunch of lab coats who perform experiments which, among other things, turn some into harmless bunnies. How am I doing so far?" she asked sarcastically. "A little too well. But you didn't tell me what... who you are?"

"I'd have thought a professional demon chaser like you would've figured it out by now", she answered and waited for him to say something. But when there was nothing, she stated the obvious: "I'm the Slayer." He just looked at her dumbly.

"Slay-er. Chosen one? She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries?" she continued like she was talking to a child but there was no recognition. "You're kidding", she sighed, for once there was someone who didn't know that she was a slayer.

"What kind of demon hunter are you when you don't even know what the Slayer is?" Angel scoffed.

"You shut your mouth, demon", Riley snapped at Angel. "Don't test me, boy! You almost got her killed!" Angel growled back at him and Buffy placed a calming hand on his. Riley's face darkened.

"Be quiet before I'll stake you, demon." "You could try, boy", Angel answered and Buffy rolled her eyes. "Could you two please stop the pissing contest. I just made demon heads explode and all I want to do is go to bed." Riley glanced at Angels hand resting on Buffy's arm and grimaced.

"If you are a demon hunter. Why haven't you killed this vampire? I saw his face and you must have seen that too." "I don't even notice it anymore. I know he's a vampire. But he has a soul. This whole thing about curse and all that. So basically he's the only vampire that has a soul."

"Vampires can't have a soul", Riley insisted and Buffy tried to control herself from rolling her eyes. "Didn't you listen. There was a curse, he has a soul, end of story", Buffy said again like talking to a small child.

"He's still a vampire." "He's also a man. And I love him." "You're under his thrall", Riley accused and Buffy giggled. "Come on. There is no thrall. You have watched too many movies. And I'm tired of this conversation. I'm going home and we'll talk about this later, like tomorrow." She grabbed Angels hand and lead him away before Riley could even protest.

.

Buffy and Angel went back to the mansion. Angel set a fire and they curled up to the couch. He wrapped his arms around her and took a book from the table. She pressed a kiss to his neck and placed her head against his shoulder. He started to read poetry of John Keats with a soft voice close to her ear.

When her breathing changed, he stopped reading and turned to look at her. A small smile rose to his lips and he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She wrinkled her nose but didn't wake up. Soundlessly he placed the book to the table and lifted her in his arms. He carried her to the bed and laid next to her circling his arms protectively around her. She turned in her sleep snuggling closer against his chest. She looked so peaceful, unknowing of what would soon come like it always would.

To be continued...


	11. But it's not even spring

**A/N**: I am terribly sorry for the late update but work has kept me busy and my muse has been hiding from me.

**A/N2**: Some of the dialog is from Buffy episode Doomed.

_Chapter 11: But it's not even spring_

Buffy was back in her dorm room which she hadn't spend so much time since Angel had his soul bound. She had a bad feeling that everything was too calm, she had killed the Gentlemen and fallen asleep listening to Angels voice, she had always loved his voice, deep but still soft.

There was knock on the door and sighing deeply, she went to open it. Riley was standing on the door, his hands on his pockets and he looked at her from under his brows. Buffy stepped aside and signed him to come in. After closing the door, she sat on her bed and Riley on Willows.

There was a long awkward silence till Buffy broke it by saying: "One of us should say something before we graduate." Riley shifted nervously.

"I asked around about a slayer and it's only a myth", he finally said. "So are vampires", Buffy shot back, she couldn't believe that he was practically calling her a liar.

"That's not what I meant", he tried desperately when he noticed that she wasn't happy with him. "Then what did you mean?" He jumped up from the bed ready to answer her when the startled squeaking from Amy the rat drew both of their attention.

"What..." he started but didn't get to finish when the ground started shaking, things started falling down to the floor braking. Riley grabbed her and pulled her into a closet. They stood there till the shaking stopped. Buffy looked at the room with wide eyes, bad memories were flowing back to her mind. Riley looked ecstatic, being from Iowa he hadn't experienced an earthquake before.

"Wow! That was intense", he said in awe but Buffy looked at him like he had lost his mind. "I've never been in an earthquake before", he explained but Buffy didn't change her expression.

"Well I have. And it isn't good", she said before quickly leaving the room. Riley stared at the closer door in wonder, he had no idea what had just happened.

.

Buffy ran through the door and was immediately greeted by Angel. He pulled her into his arms and comfortingly stroked her back.

"It's okay", he whispered to her ear and she pulled away to look at him. "It was a...", she started but was interrupted by Angel:

"I know. I felt it too." "I have a bad feeling about it", she said and pressed her face back to the crook of his neck. He just pressed a kiss against her forehead but didn't say anything. He had the bad feeling too, last time there had been a earthquake, she had died and this was Hellmouth after all, there wasn't many coincidences.

"It's okay. We'll find out what it is", he said and led her to the couch. "Do you think I'm just paranoid?" she asked with a small voice looking him under her eyebrows. "No, I don't." She smiled slightly and snuggled more closely into his embrace.

"I should go see Giles", she said after a long silence, clearly not wanting to move away from him.

"When I'm with you, I feel safe. Like every bad thing in the world disappears. I know the next end of the world could be today but with you I feel less of the weight on me", she said with a soft voice and pulled her head up to look at him.

"I love you", he whispered and leaned into a gentle kiss. "I love you too", she whispered back her voice full of emotion. After a while she started to get up.

"I better go see Giles." Angel got up also. "Yeah. You do that. I'll go ask around if there's anybody new in town or somebody's heard something." Buffy took a hold of his hand and turned his gaze to hers.

"You'll be careful, okay." "I will. And you too." She smiled. "You know me", she answered carefree and that made him frown. "Yes I do and that's why I want you to be careful." "Yes, daddy", she answered with a sarcastic voice and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before exiting the mansion.

.

It was dark again and Buffy returned to the mansion. Angel stood up from his seat in front of the fire and after lowering his book to the table he went to her in long strides.

"Hey. What did Giles say?" he asked and pulled her closer to him. She sighed deeply and pressed her head against his shoulder.

"That I'm paranoid. 'It's not the end of the world every time there is an earthquake in Southern California'", she answered mimicking Giles' voice. She sighed once again as he lead her to the couch, pulling her to sit in his lap.

"And what ever is in motion, it's starting. Willow found a body with a symbol on it." Angel turned to look at her concerned. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah. Just shaken, it really scared her and Percy called her a geek." Angel looked at her not understanding what it was about and she answered rolling her eyes: "Just this jock from high school that she helped graduate." His eyebrows furrowed into a frown and she slapped him chastising him.

"Stop the jealousy act. I barely even talked to him more than few words. I thought we got past that." "Sorry", he whispered and started to shower kisses to her neck. She smiled, he was distracting her and doing a great job at it. Her eyes closed on their own accord and a breathy moan escaped her lips. Her fingers threaded into his hair but suddenly her eyes snapped open and her head got clear. He felt the change and pulled away, looking at her like he had done something wrong.

"The symbol. The one that Willow saw, I've seen it before. And I know where, come on, we better move", she said enthusiastically and pulled him up from the couch with her, grabbing a crossbow and a axe on the way out while dragging him off the mansion. In no time they reached the cemetery, Angel still little confused of what was happening.

It didn't take long till they reached the one she was looking for, a looming mausoleum with a big symbol on it's side. "And I wonder where I've seen it before, maybe the place where I spend most of my waking hours", she said and glared at the symbol like it was it's fault.

"I was about to tell you this but I got little sidetracked when you mentioned that Perry guy", Angel started and Buffy corrected him smiling: "Percy." He was so cute when he tried not to be jealous but it was also annoying at the same time.

"Well, I was at this new demon bar and I found out that there are Va..." he started to tell her but he stopped when there was noise from the mausoleum. They glanced at each other before carefully moving to the door, finding a large dark green demon collecting small bones.

"The door was open", she said casually and the demon turned to look at the intruders. Buffy aimed the crossbow and shot an arrow to the demons chest but it didn't slow it down. Growling it approached her, finding that the crossbow was no use to her anymore she threw it at the demon before starting the fight.

Angel was swinging his axe, trying to hit the demon without hitting Buffy but it turned out to difficult. Finally he threw the axe, impeding it to the wall and started a hand to hand combat against the demon. It was very strong and held out its own against two strong warriors.

Buffy threw a punch to its gut but it grabbed her by the back of her jacket and threw her across the mausoleum. She fell against a rock bench and the demon went after her ready to crush her but Angel grabbed the demon into a choke hold. The demon shook him off but Buffy had regained enough consciousness to kick it hard into stomach sending him stumbling back. She jumped to her feet and started pounding it with her fists making it move out of the mausoleum.

Angel grabbed a hold of the axe in the wall and forcefully pulled it out, outside there was more room to work with it without worry of hurting Buffy. He ran after the demon that was now holding her in a tight grip, squeezing the air out of her. She was trying to free herself by pounding her fists into it but it was no use till the demon threw her hard against a tombstone. She cried out in pain as the stone dug into her back and she fell to the ground.

Angel attacked the demon but he was dodged and thrown away with a strong punch to the face. He jumped up ready to run after the demon that was fleeing the sight. But then he saw Buffy on the ground and he was torn between going after the demon and helping Buffy but hearing her groan in pain made the decision for him. He ran to her kneeling next to her without slowing his pace.

"Buffy", he whispered but she didn't have time to answer when there was closing footsteps and she flipped herself to her feet laying a hard punch to the target.

"Ouch", Riley said and Buffy pulled away slightly embarrassed that she had just hit him. "Riley? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised. "Looking for you actually", he answered and glanced at Angel with slight hostility in his eyes.

He took a small walkie talkie from his holster and said to it: "Base One, this is Lilac one." "Lilac?" she asked little amused as Angel said it at the same time but he was being sarcastic. Riley send a glare at his way and continued: "Confirm sighting of an unidentified sub-T. Mobilize patrol team for debriefing at oh-eight-hundred hours... Copy that." He put it back into the holster and turned his attention back to Buffy ignoring Angel.

"Buffy, we need to talk. Privately", he said and gave a hostile glance at Angel. "I guess we do since the last talk was interrupted by the earthquake. But now is not the time. I need to be somewhere else, there are very important stuff going on so our talk has to wait." Riley's face fell a little and Angel smirked triumphantly. Without even looking at him, she gave him a small slap to the hand full well knowing what he was thinking.

"We need to go now, Riley. I'll see you tomorrow", she promised and hurriedly started to lead Angel away from the cemetery.

.

Buffy and Angel went to Giles' apartment and as predicted, Angel wasn't happy about Spikes presence. It turned out that Giles had found information about the same demon that Angel had been trying to tell Buffy about. Buffy and Angel went out to patrol for it as Willow and Xander went after the Word of Valios.

When they returned to the apartment, they found badly beaten Giles and he told that they had the last ingredient for the ritual that was about to end the world once again.

.

The gang was walking down the halls of the blown up high school. Pieces of the mayor was hanging all over the place and it appeared as it could fall down at any moment.

"Why did he have to come along?" Angel asked glancing at Spike. "Cause Willow thinks he's suicidal and she can't live with it if he stakes himself with her knowing it might happen. She's too good hearted for her own good", Buffy explained and stepped over a chunk of the mayor.

"I really don't get why they are trying to open the Hellmouth now, it's not even spring yet, all the greatest bad guys try to end the world at spring. They just don't have any respect for traditions."

"Iyh! Part of the mayor, extra crispy", Xander said and stepped over the piece looking at it in disgust. "We should be close to the library now", Willow piped up and as on cue, they started to hear the chanting.

"Remember the plan, you guys take the ritual stuff and run, they can't open the Hellmouth without the ingredients", she reminded them and took one final comforting look from Angel. He gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand before they started moving.

Buffy and Angel attacked the demons, throwing fierce punches at them while the others stayed in the background. Buffy hit the demon hard and made it drop the blood to the ground. Angel grabbed another demon and kneed it hard. Once it had lost its concentration, he grabbed the pouch that held the child's bones and he threw it to Willow.

The demon Buffy was fighting hit her hard on the back making her fall to the ground and Angel growled in anger, his game face surfacing. He ran to her, striking the demon hard before helping her to her feet. "I'm okay", she assured him and continued fighting.

At the same time Willow and Xander were playing catch with the pouch till one of the demons grabbed Xander. Buffy was thrown against the wall and she fell down to a pipe crashing down hard. At that moment Angel was seeing red, he grabbed the demon and started pounding its face repeatedly.

On the other side of the library Spike was being used as a punching bag and one of the demons that was hitting Xander, suddenly stopped and jumped into the whole in the ground. Xander looked after it in surprise and quipped: "Okay, I guess I won." But the humor was short lived when the ground started to shake menacingly.

"The demons are the sacrifice!" he yelled at the realization. But Spike had just found out that he could hurt demons and he was finding the violence invigorating. He didn't even hear the others yelling at him to keep the demon from jumping into the hole. He lifted the demon over his head and threw it into the pit.

"You idiot!" Angel yelled at Spike once the ground started to shake after the second sacrifice. "What?! I was just helping", he shrugged innocently.

The demon left tried to make a run for the hole but was stopped by hard kick from Buffy. It fell to the ground but jumped back up, hitting her to the face and trying again. But this time it was stopped by furious Angel who grabbed it from behind and after a brief struggle, snapped its neck. He was breathing hard the air he didn't need, his game face still intact. Slowly the ridges smoothed down and his eye color returned back to dark chocolate as he looked at Buffy. She gave him a small smile and they met in the half way.

"You okay?" he asked and smoothed down her hair, he looked closely at her face, she was going to have bruise the next day. "I'm fine. You?" He nodded and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

Slowly the kiss started changing into more passionate till Xander cleared his throat. They pulled apart, Buffy was slightly embarrassed that she had just forgotten they weren't alone and Angel just send a halfhearted glare at his way. "Okay, we better go before this place falls down", she said changing the subject.

.

Buffy was snuggled into Angels strong embrace and tracing mindless patterns on his smooth chest. She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes. He smoothed her hair back and placed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

"Yet another one prevented", she mumbled against his chest without opening her eyes. "Can I just lay like this till next week?" she asked hopefully and he smiled.

"Sorry, love, but you've got classes tomorrow." She grumbled under her breathe.

"It's a thankless job. Why couldn't I skip few classes for saving the world again. Spending some snuggle time with my boyfriend, is that too much to ask?" "We'll... snuggle... after you're done with your classes, I doubt your professors would buy your excuse to skip." She sighed deeply.

"Yeah, I know. And I'll have to talk to Riley sometime." Angels brows furrowed, he didn't like that idea, he knew Riley had a thing for her but she just didn't see it, she never had seen the affect she had on boys, or vampires over 200 hundred years old.

"We'll work on that jealousy tomorrow too", she said with a slight smile, she had felt him tense the moment she mentioned Riley's name.

"I am not jealous", he tried desperately but it was for nothing cause she was already drifting to sleep with a small smile on her lips. A small smile rose to his lips and he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, making her sigh in her sleep and snuggle closer to his body. He pulled the sheet over them and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to think about Riley Finn, he wasn't the one holding the tiny slayer in his arms, hearing her steady breathing at night and feeling her warm body against his.

To be continued...


	12. Man in the mirror

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update but a thunderstorm broke the adapter from my computer so posting has been little difficult.

**A/N2**: Some of the dialog is from Buffy episode a New man.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything and I don't have any money so please don't sue me.

Chapter 12: Man in the mirror

Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed in a passionate kiss. Slowly his hand drifted down her side and she let out a soft moan, pulling his head even closer to her. After a while he pulled back looking down at her disheveled appearance and almost groaned out loud.

"We can't do this here", he managed to choke out but just looking at her was making it difficult. "Why not? Willow said she'll be in the library studying with Tara. Maybe **all** night", she said stretching the last part suggestively. A lopsided smile rose to his lips and he pressed a kiss to her neck.

"Is that right", he whispered huskily and she shivered when his breathe hit her neck. His hand trailed down her side and he started to slide the shirt up her body. She rose to a sitting position pushing him with her and she let him pull her shirt over her head. As soon as the shirt was off her body, she attacked his lips with a hungry kiss and quickly unbuttoned his shirt. She was about to slide it off his shoulders when Willow ran through the door. They quickly pulled apart and Angel covered her bra clad breasts with the discarded shirt.

"Willow?" Buffy asked out of breathe and a little annoyed that her friend had burst in on her and Angel.

"There's a demon, it attacked the library! Hurry!" she yelled in near panic and both Buffy and Angel jumped off the bed running towards the library. She quickly opened the door with a crossbow in her hand, Angel right behind her with an axe.

As soon as they were inside the door, group of people jumped in sight and yelled in unision: "Surprise!" Buffy took a step back and hid the crossbow behind her back since there was a lot of people that weren't involved with slaying. She turned to look at Angel with a small smile playing on her lips and asked with a soft voice: "Did you know about this?" Angel shook his head, feeling slightly uncomfortable around so many strangers.

"No, I didn't. If I had, we wouldn't have been doing what we were interrupted in", he whispered to her ear and the smile she had only widened. "Maybe we'll continue later", she whispered back with a small smirk.

Willow came to them and grabbed Buffy into a tight hug. "Happy birthday, Buffy. See, no slaying tonight, just partying." Buffy smiled back at her and shrugged. "We'll see. You know how my birthdays always end up." Angel shifted uncomfortably remembering both occasions he had witnessed but soon it was all out of his mind as he saw Riley approaching. Willow turned to look where Angel was scowling at and turned to Buffy again.

"Oh, I invited Riley and some students. The more people, the better party, right." "Hey Buffy. I hear congratulations are in order. Happy birthday", Riley said and smiled gently at Buffy. "Thank you", she answered politely.

"Buffy, I'd like to talk to you, in private", he continued and glanced at Angel. "Oh? Okay. I'll be right back", she answered and gave a quick kiss to Angel before following Riley. Both Riley and Angel glared at each other jealously. Once they were out of hearing range of people that shouldn't be hearing the stuff they were going to talk about, Buffy turned to look at Riley and asked: "So what's the what?"

"Professor Walsh would like to see you." "Why?" Buffy asked slightly confused. "Well, she's the commanding officer of our base. I told her that you are the slayer and she would like to speak to you." Buffy sighed deeply, she had asked him not to tell anyone and he had, to professor Walsh of all people, it didn't come as a surprise that she was involved in Initiative since she had that dictator air about her. "We'll see about tomorrow. I'm going for a patrol tonight", she answered.

.

Buffy was thrown against a headstone and her attacker stomped closer to her looking very menacing. Angel growled in anger and attacked the demon, pounding his fists into it in fury. The demon spun around and threw him off of him, he landed onto a tombstone shattering it under him. Buffy grabbed the axe Angel had previously dropped and ran after the demon.

But she was taken back by surprise when Riley appeared and shot with his tazer gun at the demon. It roared in anger and that gave Buffy her chance, she lifted the axe and swung it decapitating the demon. The head rolled on the ground and stopped at three feet. Buffy looked up and saw Willow, Xander and Anya standing there with a surprised look on each of their faces.

"Hey guys?" "Hey, Buffy... Riley? We thought we could help with the slaying, just like old times", Willow answered the unasked question. "And I thought we could show Anya the great tradition of it", Xander added eyeing Riley suspiciously.

"Riley? What are you doing here?" Willow asked turning to him even though she knew the answer. "Umm... I was just passing by... On my way to a friend of mine", he started and Angel just rolled his eyes, very juvenile he knew it but couldn't help it.

"So you dress like Halloween to meet your friends?" Willow teased. "Paintball! We're going to go play some paintball." Willow giggled. "At night? Very nice try, Riley. We guess you're part of the whole commando group sneaking in here." Riley sighed, it was no use to make up any more excuses.

"Okay, you got me. But you can't tell anyone." "Yeah, we know the drill, done the whole secrecy thing for years now", Xander said. "Okay. I'll just be... off. I'll see you tomorrow Buffy, Willow. Bye", Riley said and left the cemetery in a hurry.

Angel walked behind Buffy and wrapped his arm around her waist. "What did he mean by that?" he whispered to her ear trying not to sound jealous. "His boss wants to meet me. The boss being professor Walsh", Buffy answered smiling at his hidden jealousy. "I don't like it", he said and she just rolled her eyes but she wasn't going to say that she wasn't so sure about the meeting either.

She turned to look at her friends and said: "I'm sorry guys. But I guess there's no slaying tonight." "It's okay. We like the traditional vampire versus vampire slayer, other demons are not so much fun, they just growl no comebacks to your banters", Willow said shrugging.

.

Buffy met Riley on the front of the school building and they started walking towards professor Walsh's office. "I just have to ask you this, it may be too forward so forgive me. Why are you with that guy? Angel I mean", Riley asked and turned to Buffy. They both stopped walking. Buffy crossed her arms in front of her and answered: "Because he's my boyfriend and I love him."

"But he's not even alive", Riley tried but didn't score any points. "Riley, I like you but don't push your luck. Nobody messes with my boyfriend, he may not breathe or have a heartbeat but I love him and he's a good person." Riley just nodded but didn't change his mind that Angel wasn't right for her. They continued walking and went to Walsh's office. She was sitting behind her desk and pointed the chair in the front for Buffy to sit in.

"So, you're the slayer. I was certain you were a myth", she started the conversation. "Yeah, well I'm not. I'm very real", she answered, the woman made her nervous, she couldn't tell why, she had faced giant snakes and all kinds of demons but still she felt like going to finals with her.

"And to think, all that time you were sitting in my class- well, most of those times. I always thought you could have done better, but now I understand your energies were directed elsewhere", she said with a stern voice.

"I understand that agent Finn told you about our organization even though it is highly classified", she continued and Riley tried to tell how it really went but was stopped by Walsh's hand rising to the air as a sign to be quiet. "But he also told me the circumstances. It's all right. We're all on the same team."

"We are?" Buffy asked trying to keep the scepticism out of her voice. "Our goals are similar. We're each interested in curtailing the Sub-terrestrial menace. It's only our methods that differ. We use the latest in scientific technology and state-of-the-art weaponry and you... If I understand this correctly... poke them with a sharp stick", Walsh said and added the last part with a slight edge of sarcasm in her voice. "It has got the job dome just fine so far", Buffy answered getting her defenses up, some old hag who hadn't fought a demon in her life was not going to belittle her.

"Oh, I'm quite sure of that. As I'm just as sure we can learn much from each other. I'm working on getting you clearance to come into the Initiative. I think you'll find the results of our operation most impressive. Agent Finn here, alone, has captured or killed...", Walsh continued and turned to Riley. "How many is it?" "Seventeen. Eleven vampires. Six demons", Riley answered quite proudly and puffed his chest out. Buffy nodded and tried to be impressed which was hard giving the way both of the Initiative members were so proud of the achievement.

"Huh. That is... Wow, seventeen", she said trying to act impressed. "What about you? How many hostiles would you say you've... slain?" Walsh asked obviously expecting something less. Buffy glanced at both people in the room, trying to find something to answer that wouldn't hurt too much Riley's male pride.

.

Buffy told Walsh and Riley few stories about her slaying and at least Riley was impressed. Later he made her promise a sparring session and they met at the gym later that night. Buffy tried not to hurt him but he tried to make her not to hold back. She added the power which send him flying to the wall and she was still holding back.

After she had showered, she left back to the mansion. She found Angel sitting in front of the fire, reading as usual. She sat next to him and placed a soft kiss to his neck.

"Hey", she whispered and leaned her head to his shoulder. "Hey. How was your talk with Walsh?" he asked and placed the book down. "She wants me to go on tour on the Initiative. I think I should do it, see what's it all about. If we should worry." "I don't like it", he said looking at her straight into eyes.

"Yeah, but we still need to find out about them. Don't worry, I'm a big girl", she said and leaned into a kiss. "Yeah. Speaking of it, I still haven't given you the other part of your birthday present." A smirk rose to her lips and she looked at him suggestively. "And what would that be?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Not what you seem to think." "Oh. I don't know should I be disappointed."

"Come on, big girl, it's time for your present", he said smiling and pulled her with him up from the couch. He lead her to the car he had blackmailed from Spike and drove to a destination he wasn't going to tell her. After a while, he stopped the car and turned to her. He pulled out a red scarf and whispered to her: "Trust me." She nodded, her eyes betraying no distrust. Slowly he tied to scarf around her head covering her eyes and continued driving.

After a while he stopped the car and helped her out and guided her into a building. Buffy heard a click of a light switch and some movement around her but there was no other besides Angel. Angel stepped behind her and gently pulled the scarf off. She blinked and looked around her a wide smile rising to her lips.

"Angel", she whispered breathlessly as she looked at the lighted ice skating ring. "We never made it to skating and I know how you love it. Do you like it?" Buffy turned to Angel nearly in tears and pulled him into a desperate passionate kiss.

"I love it. And I love you", she answered and he smiled widely before pulling her into a long kiss. "But you have to teach me to skate again. It's been more than 250 years since the last time I had skates on", he whispered to her ear and a wide smirk rose to her lips. "I can't wait to see you on skates mister stealthy."

.

Buffy and Willow were sitting in the cafeteria and Buffy couldn't wipe the smile off her face. "It was so great! It was so sweet that I almost weeped like a girl", she told Willow almost in tears just from the memory. "You are a girl", Willow reminded her with a smile.

"Yeah, but like a weepy girl that screams when she sees a vampire. And you should have seen him on skates, it was so adorable." Willow shook her head. "I just can't imagine Angel on skates. I don't think I can look at him in the same way again."

"By the way, I didn't hear you come in last night. Where were you?" Buffy asked and Willow shifted nervously. "So you came home for the night... I was at the chem lab, by myself. I was trying to do a spell. Floating a rose, when all of a sudden: Zing! Zing! All over the room, like a... rose-based missile", she answered waving her fork in the air. "Yikes."

"I know. I think there's something out there. I felt like, there was this presence, this dark-magic energy blocking the spell. It's new." "Someone else doing magics?" Buffy asked. "Maybe. If so, it's someone pretty powerful."

"Huh. I'll tell Giles about it. And maybe Walsh, she seems interested in this kind of stuff, learning the mystical side of the demon-hunting biz." "Talk to Giles, he's feeling a little hurt right now. How come you never told him about Riley being a commando?" Willow asked slightly concerned. "I did, right?" Buffy asked slightly unsure of the answer. "He says no. He's feeling all neglected and out of the loopy."

"Ouh! At first I wasn't supposed to tell anyone and then you just found out and I forgot he didn't know. Ouh! This is not good. I'll make it right next time I see him. Tomorrow. I'm spending today with Angel." "Of course. I forgot that's what you always do on days when the Earth rotates", Willow answered feeling a little jealous and neglected.

.

Later that day Buffy and Willow went to meet Giles but found his place trashed which was never a good sign. Buffy thanked heavens that it was night cause she didn't know how she was going to handle it if Angel couldn't be with her. She ran to the phone booth and called Angel who came rushing to the apartment.

He went to Buffy and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "How are you holding up?" he whispered to her ear and she turned to look at him. "I'm okay. But I'm no good at research. Xander said something about bunny ears on the demon but I'm getting blank."

"No bunnies! Tufty ears, no bunnies!" Anya yelled and others looked at her like she had finally lost her mind.

There was rattling at the door and everyone were instantly on alert. Buffy pulled out a stake and Angel reached for an axe. Buffy pulled the door out of the way and became face to face with Riley.

"Riley? What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise. "There were 911 calls. From a couple different places. Including here." "You get 911 calls?" Xander asked in awe. "We have a tap into the system. It flags things with possible non-human causes. We check 'em out. What are you doing here?" Riley answered and turned to look at Buffy.

"This is Giles' apartment. He's missing. The calls, did anyone see what did it?" "Negativ..." Riley started till he remembered he wasn't talking to a military personnel, after a small pause he continued: "No. Neighbors just heard, you know, growling, things breaking. Sounded like a struggle."

"Poor Giles", Willow said miserably. Buffy turned to look at her and assured: "We'll get him back."

After a long or at least what seamed like a very long time, they found what they were looking for. "That's the thing that attacked me!" Xander yelled and pointed at the picture in the book.

"Fyarl demon. Their used by other demons to do the dirty work. Very strong but not all that smart", Angel said while leaning over the couch to look at the picture. Riley's cellphone started to ring and he flipped it open. "Agent Finn. Go ahead."

Buffy turned back to Willow and asked: "How do we kill it?" "Silver. Something from silver", she answered and Buffy went to Giles' desk. She looked through it and picked a letter opener. Riley disconnected the call and turned to the others.

"The demon attacked Professor Walsh. It got out of a small gray car. A Citroen." "It stole Giles' car!" Willow yelped in surprise. "Why would a demon steal a car?" Xander asked confused. "Why would a demon steal that car?" Anya added.

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her and started: "A demon that steals a car has a reason. It has a purpose. But since Fyarl demons aren't really big independent thinking. The spells that have been going wrong, could that be caused by someone using magics to control a demon? Making this Fyarl demon attack Giles? Willow perked up, this was her area of expertise.

"Yeah. Yes, that would draw a lot of dark energy." "Willow, Xander, stay here. Whoever's controlling the demon may call, ask for ransom. Give them anything they want", Buffy said taking in charge.

She turned to Angel and said with a more gentle voice but no less in control: "Let's visit the magic shop. Maybe they needed supplies." He nodded and they headed out only to be followed by Riley which didn't sit well with Angel but since it was a emergency he didn't argue to waste time.

.

Buffy kicked open the door of the magic shop and marched inside Angel and Riley behind her. "Credit card slips, copies of receipts. Help me look", she told Riley since she knew that Angel knew the drill already. Buffy and Angel started going through the papers and drawers.

"You shouldn't have done that to the door", Riley said but Buffy continued looking around not looking at him while she answered: "Don't have time to play by the rules tonight."

"I have a master key. Opens every shop on main street", he said and dangled the key chain in the air. "That's a nice thing to have", she said and pulled out what she was looking for.

"Ethan Rayne", she said and showed the card to Angel. "Doesn't he ever learn", he scoffed. "Who's that", Riley asked, he was clueless to what was going on.

"Professional bad guy. He's gotta be the one who made the demon go after Giles. At least we know who we're looking for", Buffy answered and turned to leave but was stopped when Riley spoke to the cellphone: "Come in... Are you there?" Buffy turned to look at him, feeling a little pissed that he was wasting time. "What are you doing?" Riley didn't answer to her just talked to the phone: "This is Agent Finn. I need a search. Local hotel registrations matching the name Ethan Rayne. R-A-Y-N-E. I'll wait." He turned to Buffy. "It'll take a couple minutes."

She nodded and said: "We'll wait in the car." She turned to leave with Angel when he took a hold of her arm, she turned back to look at him expectantly while Angel was boiling with jealousy.

"Professor Walsh gave me very specific orders. She said, when we located the demon... I... I'm not supposed to bring you along", he answered struggling to get it out. "Oh", she said unaffected and turned to leave again. "What are you doing?", he asked once he realized she was heading out.

"We're going to the car. And then we're going where the demon is", she answered like it was obvious. "But Buffy", Riley tried to protest but she interrupted him: "You're not taking me along. I'm going and I'm letting you come with me."

"Buffy, it's not really your call. This is a military operation now." Angel smirked triumphantly, the boy was in so much trouble. "I am the slayer, this is my job. So get the troops to stop me, cause nothing less than that's gonna do it. This demon did something to Giles. And I'm gonna kill it", she said with a low voice and walked out the door with a discreetly smiling Angel following her.

.

Buffy burst through the motel door and attacked the large demon. "Don't let him get away. I'll deal with him as soon as I finish his pet", she said grinding her teeth and punched the demon with a strength that send it staggering backwards.

While she was fighting the demon, Ethan tried to make a run for it only to be grabbed by Angel and pulled back. He tried to swing at Angel but missed and Angel threw him against the wall. "Only reason you're not unconscious on the floor right now is because of Buffy", Angel growled into his ear and did his best not to mash his head against the wall. He turned to look at Buffy fighting the demon, she always was so graceful and he had to admit it, he loved watching her fight even though he wanted to help her but he knew she had to do this on her own.

Buffy knocked the demon to the ground and jumped on top of it. "This is for Giles", she said and plunged the letter opener into the demons chest. But then she saw his eyes and the recognition hit her.

"Oh my God! Giles! I'm sorry! Please don't die!" she yelled and started to hover over him.

.

Ethan was sitting on the floor in front of a smoking spell ingredients. "I really should learn to just skip town. The Stay and gloat gets me every time", he said feeling slightly depressed. Buffy just ignored him and went to Giles who was back in his own body, looking into the mirror very uncomfortably and the smallest reason wasn't Ethan's hideous shirt he was wearing.

"You okay?" she asked him gently. "Embarrassed mostly. Ethan's wardrobe not helping the matter." Then it hit him and he turned to her. "How did you know it was me?" Buffy gave him a small smile.

"Your eyes." After a small pause she continued: "You're the only person in the world that can look THAT annoyed with me." He laughed but the moment was interrupted when Ethan decided to speak. "Is this gonna go on much longer? I'd rather be going."

Buffy shifted on her feet crossing her arms and asked: "And what makes you think I'll let you go?" You've got no choice. I'm human. You can't kill me. What's a slayer going to do?" he asked confidently and that's when the bunch of commandos walked in.

"By the authority of the U.S. Military, you are being taken into custody pending a determination of your status", Riley said and the military men escorted Ethan out the door. Riley turned to look at the others in the room, feeling very manly and confident against Angel. "They'll take Mr. Rayne to a secret detention facility in the Nevada desert. I'm sure he'll be rehabilitated in no time."

"If you don't mind, I'm just gonna go and watch them manhandle him into the vehicle", Giles said excitedly and left the room.

.

Buffy was talking to Giles further away while Angel watched after her. He could feel and hear Riley closing in on him and stopping to stand next to him but he wasn't going to acknowledge him.

"Let's get this straight, I don't like you. To me you are still a hostile and I don't know if the soul makes any difference with you", Riley started and Angel turned to him sharply, it took everything in him not to flinch at the move. "Believe me, boy, you'd know the difference", he answered with a low voice and turned back to looking at Buffy.

"I still believe you are not right for her. Her life shouldn't be like this, hunting demons and then spending time in the darkness with one." "I know I don't deserve her. But who does, you? You don't know anything what being a slayer is like, you believe that she could just walk away from it when ever she wants to. Let me tell you, boy, it doesn't work that way."

"I would never treat her badly. Just now inside you didn't even help her when she was fighting a demon many times her size", Riley accused but Angel didn't let it get to him. "Because it wasn't my place to interfere. She needed and wanted to do it by herself. Just because you are playing soldier with other kids doesn't make you a demon hunter or if you read few books doesn't make you understand other people", Angel said and walked away.

He stopped behind Buffy and wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin to her shoulder. She let out a satisfied hum and leaned against his chest. "How 'bout next year we won't celebrate my birthday?" she asked and closed her eyes, enjoying the closeness with him. "I don't think that would make any difference. Now it has been three days since your birthday." She groaned and turned around in his arms. She lifted her head to look at him and whispered: "Let's go home." He smiled and leaned into a gentle kiss.

To be continued...


	13. Teamwork

**A/N:** Thank you very much for all the reviews, it keeps my muse fed and encourages me to keep on writing. I know I have been little slow on the update lately but real life has kept me busy.

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Chapter 13: Teamwork

Buffy hid behind a tree and sighed deeply. She glanced at her clock once more and couldn't help but roll her eyes, she was getting bored and she had to go on a patrol with Angel later that evening.

Finally she saw one of the commandos, he was obviously trying to move soundlessly but she could feel every ruffle of a leaf. She sighed deeply and thought it was time to end this game. She jumped up from behind him and kicked him sending him flying down the hill landing on another commando. She ran down the hill and was attacked by two commandos.

She held her own easily, sending kicks and punches their way but tried not to hurt them. She knocked the other down to the ground and grabbed the one standing, using him as a shield as the hiding commando shot shot with his tazer gun. The man fell to the ground and Buffy prepared herself for hand to hand combat when a blindingly bright light was shot towards them.

"Enough!" yelled the booming voice of professor Walsh and she walked to Buffy, her face showing nothing. The commando in front of Buffy was immediately in attention and pulled off the mask revealing Riley.

"Very impressive. It took the patrol 42 minutes to track you and you neutralized them in 28 seconds", professor Walsh said her voice not sounding so impressed. "Lucky me", Buffy explained in a careless manner even though the woman still made her nervous. "Yes, right", she agreed and walked away back to the vehicles.

"That was amazing, Buffy", Riley said and smiled his charmer smile. "Thanks." The other commandos started to rise from the ground, some groaning in pain or rubbing the sore spot. "Very impressive", Graham said while walking past her, rubbing his neck but Forrest just walked away glaring at her, he wasn't used to getting beat up by a girl.

.

Buffy was pushed against a mausoleum. But the attacker wasn't an average vampire, it was Angel and he attacked her lips mercilessly. She moaned and threaded her finger to his hair pulling him into a more close contact. His hands took hold of her and pulled them above her head holding them against the cold wall. His other hand made it's way down to the hem of her shirt and his fingers played with the bare skin making her shiver. He pulled him lips from hers pressing soft kisses to her neck as he spoke.

"We shouldn't do this here. We should go to the mansion." "It's too far away", she answered breathlessly and moaned when his lips found the scar. He abandoned her neck and leaned into a kiss when she pulled her hands free and spun them around, pushing him hard against the wall. She attacked his lips with great passion and started to unbutton his shirt.

He shed his shirt off and spun them around again, lifting her into the air where she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. He quickly opened her pants and his own before capturing her lips into a kiss. Neither of them noticed Riley standing behind the trees, not looking very happy. But not even he noticed the masked figure farther away, holding a camera.

.

Buffy sneaked into the dorm room only to be spooked by Willow who was sitting on the bed. "So, where were you last night?" she asked trying to keep the hostility out of her voice. Buffy's eyes widened as she remembered that she had promised to meet the gang at the Bronze but the whole commando thing and patrolling with Angel had made her forget it.

"Oh Willow. I'm so sorry, I know I was supposed to be at the Bronze but I forgot. I had the whole Initiative test and the patrolling and I simply forgot. Please forgive me, I'm gonna make it up to you", she said all in one breathe.

"These days you're either with Angel or playing commando with the Initiative, I hardly see you other than in classes", Willow said and Buffy nodded repentantly. "I know I've been a bad friend lately. But I have to find out what the Initiative is all about, I promise I will grovel and make it up to you as soon as it's all over", she assured her and Willow just nodded her head, not really ready to forgive her but not saying anything either.

"Fine, but you have some serious groveling to do", she said smiling even though she didn't feel like it. Buffy smiled but then her pager went off. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at Willow apologizing. "I'm sorry, I gotta go", she said and Willow nodded, not happy about it. Buffy grabbed her jacket and walked out the door.

.

Buffy got the passage to the Initiative and had a small tour on the place. She saw the probing they did on the demons and she didn't like it but she kept quiet about it, she was going to play nice for now. After that she went to the briefing and professor Walsh didn't seem very happy when she asked questions, like what the demon was that they were going hunting for. After a small run in with Walsh, Buffy went to the patrol with the commando group. They were attacked by the demon and she found out that the commandos were more on the way than help.

.

Buffy fell exhausted to the bed and sighed deeply when Angels arms surrounded her small form. "How was the patrol?" he asked and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Okay, nobody got killed so that's a plus. They don't even know what demons they are hunting want and Walsh gave me the evil eye when I asked. The demon had this stick of bone coming from its arm..." "Polgara demon", Angel assisted and Buffy nodded.

"Well we fought it and captured it which I'm a little wiggy about since they are going to poke and prob it, I think killing a demon is a bit more humane than planting some chip into its head making it not able to feed." "I agree with you on that one. And I like it even less that you have to spend time in there." Buffy smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"I know, I'm having all kinds of bad vibes in there but it must be cause the place is full of demons, not the best atmosphere for a slayer, my senses are all over the place." Angel pulled her closer to his body and pressed a soft kiss to her neck right above his mark. She let out a satisfied hum and started to stroke his hair, she always loved the softness of it.

"Don't go back there", he asked her and started planting small kisses to her neck. "I have to", she answered and moaned when his blunt teeth nipped at her scar. "I don't like it", he said as he reseeded down her neck. She flexed her fingers in his hair and whispered: "I know."

"Can I persuade you not to?" A smile rose to her lips. "You can try", she whispered huskily.

At the same time on the other side of town professor Walsh was sitting in a surveillance room, watching a small black and white screen which showed Angel and Buffy on the cemetery. She sipped her coffee as she watched the small screen and after a while, she stopped the tape, with few push of a keyboard she printed a photo of Angel. She looked at it scrutinizingly and pushed the play button on the tape.

.

After Buffy's last class Riley walked up to her looking practically giddy. "Hey", he said with a wide smile. "Hey. You're looking giddy today." "Not the word I would use but it will do. Could we talk in private, like in my dorm room since I'd like to talk about last night but it isn't for civilians to hear." Buffy nodded in agreement and they went to Riley's dorm room.

"So what are you so excited about?" Buffy asked Riley as she saw that his goofy look wasn't fading. "The mission last night. It was magnificent. The way you moved and took out that demon. Wow! It was like when I saw you fight the first time." Buffy smiled and said a polite thank you. "But what I don't get is why you take it like it's the end of the world", Riley said and it was a mistake, her face darkened.

"I've lived on a Hellmouth for nearly four years and the end of the world is always behind the corner and guess who has to stop it. We may both be after the same creatures but we are not the same. For you it's a job but..." "It's not just a job", Riley interrupted but Buffy just shook it off with a shake of her shoulders. "So it's an adventure. You hunt some vampires and get to be the hero. But for me it's destiny, I can't change it and I can't walk around it. I'm stuck with it."

"But you don't have to be, there are other people who can do it. You're not alone", Riley said and placed his hand on her arm. She took a step back and crossed her arms in front of herself.

"Have done your reading on slayers?" she asked him cause he was apparently still clueless. "Yes, I did. But that doesn't mean that your life has to end because of it." "I don't know what book you read but being a slayer isn't like that. It is my calling, my duty, I can't run away from it and it never stops till I stop breathing. It isn't a hobby, it is my duty cause I'm the only one that can do it. For you hunting vampires and other creatures of the night is fun, an adventure but I don't have a choice. As long as I am alive I can't stop it, I have to fight for my life and for the world every night till some demon gets lucky and that's when the other slayer is called."

"You've got this twisted way of looking at things. This... this doom and gloom mentality. You keep thinking like that, things are probably going to turn out just the way you expect", he said and her expression hardened.

"Just because you read psych doesn't mean you know anything about me." "We're both demon hunters, I know what it's like", Riley tried and it seemed like he really believed it.

"No we aren't. You are an amateur, you play soldier with your zap gun and catch some demons and you think you know what it's about. I've been doing this since I was fifteen, I will do this till the day I die which could be already tomorrow cause not one slayer is recorded of living past 25."

"Which is exactly the attitude I'm talking about! I know the risks of what we do. I also know it's more rewarding than any other job on the planet. And fun..." "Fun? Right. The last person who had too much fun in this job is in a coma!"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't take your work seriously..." "But just turn my frown upside down, is that it? Well, open your eyes Riley cause you're in for a rude awakening cause this line of work isn't what you have painted it to be. You lose people, people you don't know and those that you love and you have to make sacrifices, it is hard and painful and all you can do is try to fight the forces of evil. They never stop coming no matter how much you wish you could dust the last vampire. Wake up from the dream", she said getting more angry by the second. She gave him a cold look and turned around to leave.

"Buffy", he said her name with a pleading voice and grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him, her face not any softer. "Don't. We are done talking about this subject", she said and left the room. She had just got her head clear when Walsh paged her and told her to meet her at once.

.

Professor Walsh walked into the room with Buffy trailing behind her. "It is a small assignment and probably a waist of slayers talent but all my boys are on field", Walsh said and Buffy nodded.

"We've had readings of a Class 3 sub-terrestrial moving through the sewer tunnels here. Just on the north edge of town", she continued pointing the spot on a map that laid on a table. Buffy turned to look at her questioningly and asked: "Class 3?" "Low level threat. Minimal aggression and defenses." She signed to the gear in the table.

"Here is your gear, we don't want to take any chances. This is a communications camera, it has a direct line here and it also monitors the heartbeat. You'll also be getting this tazer with you", she said and handed her the small devise and pointed at the tazer riffle on the table. "Okay", Buffy answered little unsure, she really didn't like guns even if they didn't have bullets, maybe the fact that she had been shot at twice had something to do with it. "But there's also something I would like talk about with you." "We'll talk when you get back", Walsh assured her.

Some time later, Buffy stepped into the dingy sewer, holding the riffle in her hand and looking warily around herself. She could hear heavy footsteps and low growling.

"Professor Walsh..." she started to the head devise but then the two large demons stepped into view and she remembered seeing that kind in the operating table in the Initiative. Realization hit her hard and she tried to shoot them with the tazer but it just shot electricity all over itself so that Buffy had to throw it off her hands. There was no doubt anymore that she had been betrayed when the iron bars slammed down on the exit.

She attacked the demons, kicking and throwing punches at them. She ducked when the other tried to grab her, she kicked the other and ducked a swing of a axe. She started throwing strong punches but the other hit her into the back and she spun around kicking it off.

After a furious fight, one of them managed to grab her and the other tried to kill her with the axe, that was her golden opportunity, she grabbed the devise from her head and threw it into the ground before kicking the approaching demon off of her. She grabbed the axe and pushed it into the demons chest while it was still holding it. The one left punched her hard to the ground and went after its own axe that happened to be laying in a puddle of water. She grabbed the dysfunctional tazer gun and threw it into the water electrocuting the demon.

She fell to the ground breathing heavily, she was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she had just been tried to kill by a human being. She rose from the ground and went to the discarded communications devise. She lifted it off the ground and pointed the camera to herself.

"Professor Walsh. About the demons you send to take care of me, well they're dead. It takes a lot more than a faulty gun and couple of warrior demons to kill this slayer. Obviously you haven't done your homework. Let me tell you this, you just made the biggest mistake of your life." After saying that, she threw the devise to the ground and crushed it with her boot.

.

At the same time as Buffy was on the sewers, Angel was on his way to the dorm rooms to see her. He had blackmailed Spike into taking control of the patrolling for the night, well he didn't have a hard time convincing him since he would have done it anyway because of the only violence he could give. He had the plan all set, all he needed now was Buffy.

He heard a noise from a back alley and headed to investigate since in Sunnydale it could mean a vampire attack. When he reached the destination, there was no vampires but he heard a faint voice saying: "Target has been confirmed, move." And he was attacked from various side and soon he noticed his attackers were the commandos.

He knocked the first one unconscious on a first punch and grabbed the second one throwing him into the wall. He slid down to the ground unconscious. Two men attacked him while the third called backup on his walkie talkie. One of the men hit Angel to the stomach and his head with his combat wand and Angel grabbed it throwing it over the building. He grabbed the men by the collars of their jackets and lunged them against each other. He let go of them and they fell unconscious to the ground.

He closed in on the one left standing and asked barely keeping him vampire face down: "Why are you attacking me?" The man didn't answer him, just pulled out his tazer gun and aimed it at Angel. Angel ducked the shot and kicked the riffle out of the mans hands before kicking the man across the alley. He looked around himself and the three unconscious commandos on the ground. He noticed a paper on one of their pockets and kneeled next to him pulling the paper out. He straightened it and shock and confusion smeared his face when he saw it was a printed picture of him. He looked at it for a while and realized it was taken from the cemetery when he had been with Buffy. His face darkened from the thought of one of the commandos seeing his Buffy naked.

He stood up with anger and folded the paper before tucking it into his jacket pocket. With long angry strides he left the scene and headed to Buffy's dorm room.

He didn't have to wait long when Buffy walked in and their gaze met at once.

"You're hurt", she said and walked to him, gently touching side of his head that had dry blood on it. "So are you", he answered and looked at the split lip.

"Yeah, I had this little military mission, only Walsh didn't count on me surviving. What happened to you?" "I ran into some commandos. And they were obviously after me since I found this from one of them", he answered and pulled out the paper passing it to her. She opened the paper and was surprised to see his face on it, it was clearly taken from a video tape since it had a date and a time code in the corner.

Seeing her face, Angel explained: "It was taken the night we were at the cemetery... And when things got a little out of hand." The realization hit her and she looked at him with wide eyes. "You mean someone was filming when we were... you know?!" Angel nodded with a frown on his face. "Oh God!" she said disgusted and sat on her bed. Angel sat next to her and pulled her into his arms.

"Professor Walsh tried to kill me, she send me against warrior demons with a faulty tazer gun, they were her pets, I saw one of them once in the Initiative and they were meant to kill me. And it seems that she wanted you captured. We can't trust them, we don't know what they are going to do and what is room 314 but now knowing them I bet it's even worse than we suspect."

"We'll deal with it when the time comes", he assured her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Yeah. I was mad at them before but now I'm really pissed off cause nobody messes with my boyfriend!"

To be continued...


	14. The meeting

A/N: Some of the dialog is from Buffy episode Goodbye, Iowa.

A/N2: I was going write a longer chapter but everything else in life just seemed to pour down on me, so I'm posting this now and make the rest as a own chapter since I haven't finished yet. Thank you to all of you who have been so patient with me. Hopefully I'll be posting the hext chapter soon.

Chapter 14: The meeting

Buffy warned everybody about the Initiative and soon found out from Riley that professor Walsh had been killed by the Polgara demon. In the fear of the Initiative she told everyone to stay together in a place that wouldn't be found by them, which turned out to be Xander's "apartment". Once they saw the news of the little boy that had been murdered, they made a plan to go inside the Initiative at night. But Buffy had more fearful things in her mind than government commandos that were trying to kill her and that was dinner with her mother and she had invited Angel.

.

Buffy had been nervous all day and now she couldn't stay still. In vain she had tried to sit in front of the fire place while waiting Angel, since when did guys have to take time to get dressed, even though she wasn't one to talk since she had been picking her dress for nearly two hours. Finally she had decided on light pink dress with thin straps, she looked very innocent in it and that was the point.

Buffy fidgeted with the hem of her dress till she heard footsteps nearing, she turned around to see Angel walk into the room, looking very handsome in black pants and dark red dress shirt. The sight made her mouth water and unconsciously she licked her lips, all fears of her mother forgotten.

"Is this okay?" Angel asked nervously, he had never changed his clothes so many times as he had tonight, he wanted to make a good impression on Joyce or at least try to fix the damage he had done before, he didn't want to give her any more reasons to dislike him. "Oh, it's definitely okay", Buffy answered with a husky voice and blushed when she noticed how she sounded like.

"You're looking very beautiful", Angel said and with two long strides he reached her, pulling her into a gentle kiss. "We better be going, we don't want to be late for dinner", he murmured into her ear and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before pulling away. Buffy grabbed her coat and they headed out.

"Do you think I should get her some flowers?" Angel asked hiding his hands into his pockets to stop them from fidgeting. Buffy shook her head. "Definite no-no. Angelus send me some flowers. So no flowers." He frowned thinking of the things he had done as Angelus, revealing to Joyce that he had taken her daughters virginity but soon he was pulled out of his thoughts by a gentle slap to his arm. Buffy stepped in front of him and placed her hands to his chest looking into his eyes.

"Don't go there. It was Angelus that did those things, you didn't have any power in stopping him. I love you and tonight is going to go just fine, she can't blame you for things that you didn't have power over", she said gently even though she didn't believe all of it herself. She pulled him down into a kiss and smiled when she saw him relax a little.

"Maybe I should get her chocolate or something", he said thoughtfully as they continued walking.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination even though both of them hoped it would have but there was no point in running away. Taking a deep breathe, Buffy pressed the door bell and grabbed a hold of his hand while they waited for Joyce to answer. It didn't take long for Joyce to open the door.

"Hi honey, why didn't you just come in? Hello Angel." "Oh, Angel has this thing for politeness." "Okay. Why don't you come in." Buffy stepped inside pulled Angel with her and closed the door behind them. Angel helped her out of her jacket and she smiled brightly at his gentleman behavior but it did nothing to melt Joyce's heart towards him.

"Buffy, could you set the table since I didn't have time yet?" Buffy nodded and turned to Angel, rising to her tiptoes, she said to him: "Why don't you wait in the living room." She was about to give him a small kiss but seeing his discomfort in front of her mother, she just squeezed his hand before going to the kitchen. Angel turned to look at Joyce, she didn't look happy but she wasn't glaring at him either.

"I still don't believe you are what's best for my daughter. I believe all you will cause her is heartache and pain. You can't give her normal life or children. But I will not tell any of this to her cause I know how she feels about you, or at least thinks she feels and I don't want loose her for a third time", she said with a hushed but stern voice

"I appreciate that you are straight with me but I love your daughter and I will never hurt her intentionally." "I believe you do love her but she is still young. She should be with someone her own age, you can't possibly understand a teenage girl", she insisted and glanced at the dining room to see if Buffy was going to hear their conversation.

"I know she is young but she is not a child. Because of what she does she had to grow up fast, too fast and because of that she is capable of making adult decisions. And no matter how old or young a man is, he never understands everything about women", he added the last part with a small smile. Joyce obviously wasn't happy with his answer but didn't say anything because Buffy walked in from the kitchen. She leaned against the door jam and looked at her mother and boyfriend suspiciously. "The table is set", she simply said and cast a look to Angel that told him they would talk later.

The dinner was little awkward. Angel didn't want to hurt Joyce's feelings by telling that he didn't need food and because of that he ate the food that was no use to him or that he couldn't taste well but despite that he told her it was delicious.

All through dinner Joyce asked about Buffy's studies and gave almost unnoticeable hints that she should enjoy the college life. But after she noticed that Buffy wasn't going to keep the conversation going on the subject, she mentioned of the boy that had been murdered. Buffy assured her they were going to make the killer pay but didn't give her any details, just that it had been a demon. The dinner was over and the time for the visit to Initiative was near so they thanked for the dinner and left.

As soon as Joyce closed the door, Buffy turned to Angel grabbing hold of his hand and looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry about mom. I can guess what she said to you but please don't let it get to you. She just has a hard time accepting what I am, she just doesn't understand what it is to be a Slayer."

"I know. Don't worry. Let's just go to Giles' so we can finish this", he assured her. Buffy smiled slightly and pulled him into a passionate kiss that she had been waiting for all evening. After the kiss ended, she was smiling widely and they continued their journey to Giles' apartment.

.

Willow did a spell that Angel wouldn't show on any vampire detectors if there were any and after that, Buffy, Angel and Xander sneaked into the Initiative, Buffy wearing a scientist outfit while Angel and Xander were dressed as commandos.

They were following doctor Angleman but since he was talking to someone, they had to wait to get him alone. Buffy glanced at Angel, he was clearly feeling uncomfortable in the commando outfit but Buffy couldn't help thinking that he looked hot in it, well he would look hot in anything or nothing. She licked her lips and smirked looking him up and down. He could feel her eyes on him, taking in every inch of him and he turned to look at her uncomfortably, he couldn't wait to get back into his own clothes.

Buffy leaned closer to him and whispered to his ear so Xander wouldn't hear: "Maybe we could borrow those clothes for later." Angel could feel the heat running through him and he looked into her eyes, dark from passion, making him swallow. "Same to you", he whispered huskily but their moment was cut off when they noticed the other man walking away from Dr Angleman. He stepped through the door and quickly they followed him. Buffy grabbed him by the lab coat and turned him around.

"You know, I don't generally like to kill humans but I've learned it pays to be flexible in life", she said sternly. "I was wondering when you'd turn up", Dr Angleman said sounding like from a cheap movie.

"Oh darn, so this wasn't a surprise", she said over acting disappointed till she continued seriously: "Now lets take a guided tour to room 314." "You will be stopped, somebody has already noticed you're here", he said confidently. Suddenly Riley walked into the room and positioned himself standing by the door with his arms crossed in front of him. Angel glared at him and he had to suppress a growl just thinking that this boy may have seen his Buffy naked.

"Finn. Take this girl to the stockade, immediately!" Dr Angleman commanded but Riley didn't move, Buffy looked at him and he didn't look well, actually he looked like someone who was going through withdrawal from drugs.

"Maggie wanted me dead, didn't she?" she asked turning back to the doctor in her hands. "She did", he admitted and the confession made Angel growl. Dr Angleman looked at him scared and then turned to Riley, quickly adding: "But understand, the Initiative has no interest in eliminating the slayer. It was her own vendetta."

"Why? Spell it out for me. I feel an attack of dumb blonde coming on." "I don't know", Dr Angleman said and right that moment Angel lunged at him grabbing him by his labels of his coat and pulled him close to his face.

"Think harder", he said gritting his teeth, feeling the demon rise inside him. "I... It was the... project", the doctor stammered now truly scared. Buffy placed her hand on Angels arm making him relax by a single touch and then she turned back to the doctor.

"Project 314?" "It... it... escaped", the man stammered glancing at the vampire."That's enough. You're making her sound like some psychopath. She wasn't like that. She was a brilliant woman", Riley interrupted them sounding like professor Walsh was more than a boss to him. "She was. It's not..." Dr Angleman tried to reassure.

"All she was trying to do was help people, and this is how you want them to remember her?" "Riley. Listen, I heard Angleman say that she was feeding you drugs", Buffy said to Riley but obviously he didn't believe her, with long strides he was up her face looking very unstable.

"No! You're doing this to me, aren't you? This all started because of you", he accused her and that made Angel growl loudly, Riley just glanced at him like he was the scum of the earth. "Listen to yourself, you're not well. All I'm trying to do is to get to the truth", Buffy tried but it was for nothing.

"You want truth? Then tell me! What did you do to her, Buffy?!" Riley yelled and Angel was ready to jump him but stopped at the look Buffy gave him. "Stop it! I didn't do anything!" Buffy yelled back at Riley. He tried to grab her but then Angel stepped in and pushed the unstable commando across the room, nobody especially him was going to touch Buffy.

"Riley, stop! We need to know what is in 314..." she started but didn't get to finish when a dead body of a commando fell to the floor. They turned to look up and saw Adam standing in the catwalk. "Me", he said stating the obvious. The demon made of pieces started to walk along the catwalk while talking to himself.

"I've been thinking... About the world. I wanted to see it. Learn it. I saw the inside of that boy, and it was beautiful, but it didn't tell me about the world. It just made me feel. So now I want to know about me. Why I feel. What I am." "One big ugly piece of Frankenstein", Buffy offered but the monster didn't pay any attention to her. He stepped off the catwalk and landed to the floor on straight feet. He reached to his pocket and pulled out a flobby disk that he put to his hard drive.

"I am a kinematically redundant, bio-mechanical demonoid. Designed by Maggie Walsh. She called me Adam, and I called her "Mother"." "Adam. Maggie would want you to stand down", Dr Angleman tried clearly scared of the monster. "Yes. But I seem to have a design flaw. In addition to organic material, I'm equipped with GP2D11 infrared detectors, 140..." he started but Buffy just rolled her eyes.

"Why do bad guy alway love to hear themselves talk?" she said noticing the Polgara demons arm, she continued more seriously: "She pieced you together out of parts of other demons. Made her very own Frankenstein's monster.

"I am also made of a man and machine. Which tells me what I am, but not who I am...Mother wrote things down, that's how I know she loved me, and you. And that's how I learned I have a job here." "She wasn't your mother! She didn't love you" Riley yelled disgusted by the monster and sounding like a little boy that didn't want to share. "Is that really the issue here?" Xander questioned after staying quiet for a long time. Adam looked at Riley and pulled out another disk that he fed to his hard drive.

"Riley Finn... Mother created you too", he said but Riley interrupted him. "Maggie's not my mother. I have a real mother." "A birth mother. But after you met Maggie, she was the one who shaped your basic operating system. She taught you how to think, how to feel. She fed you chemicals to make you stronger, your mind and body. She said that you and I were her favorite children, her art. That makes us brothers, family."

"I'm not like you, I'm a man!" Riley said and pulled out his gun but Adam grabbed his hand and punched him. Buffy and Angel jumped into action, Buffy grabbed the things arm but he knocks her down to the floor. Seeing it happen, Angel growled loudly and hit Adam hard in the face. With a quick move Adam punched Angel sending him flying across the room and landing on Xander.

Buffy jumped up from the floor and attacked Adam but when seeing Dr Angleman fleeing, he puched her hard, making her drop to the floor. Adam killed doctor Angleman but was attacked by Angel. Growling in rage he started to pound his fists into the human made demon but Adam spun around and stabbed him with the bone coming from the arm.

"Angel!" Buffy screamed and ran to him. She kicked Adam to the lower back, making him release Angel and he spun around. Buffy was fighting the thing hard but when the commandos on the door started to get through, Adam grabbed her by the throat lifting her off the ground and tossed her against the door. She landed with a heavy thud feeling dazed.

"Thank you. This was interesting", Adam said before leaving. Buffy glanced after it but quickly grawled to Angel. She touched his face that was twisted in pain and looked at the wound on his side. "Honey", she whispered bringing his eyes to hers. "It's okay. It will heal", he assured her but the pain was no less.

The commandos rushed through the door but didn't pay any attention to Xander who informed them about the demon. "It's not the Polgara. It kind of looks like a man..." Buffy tried to explain not leaving Angels side but Forrest didn't believe her. "Right, and you just happened to be in the neighborhood", he said sarcastically.

"She's telling the truth. I saw it. It killed Angleman. Go. Now!" Riley said getting up from the floor with difficulty. "Let's take them into containment", Forrest said but Buffy looked at him like she was ready to kill.

"Try it and I'll show you what a Slayer can really do. None of your little toys will be any help to you if you piss me off", she said with a cold voice that send shivers down his spine, not that he would let it show.

"Let them go. But take miss Summers off the clearance", Riley said and the commandos took a step back, Forrest not looking happy. Slowly Buffy got up and helped Angel to stand. She cast one last look to Riley and the commandos before leaving the room.

.

Angel was laying on the bed against a mountain of pillows while Buffy was bandaging the wound still in her scientist outfit. "This is becoming a habbit, do you have some sign that says 'stab me'", she said but then stopped remembering the day she send him to Hell. She looked at him and whispered: "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about", he answered and pulled her up to face him. Gingerly he lifted his other hand and framed her face keeping her gaze with his. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and pulled her into a gentle kiss.

"Maybe I do it intentionally so I can have you to play nurse for me", he whispered and pressed a kiss to her ear before pulling the earlobe between his lips. She giggled and pulled away. "Okay, mister. You're hurt so none of that right now", she chastised and pressed him down to the mattress.

"Come on, doc. I'm fine", he said and pulled her back attacking her lips. After a while she surrendered into the kiss but by accident brushed against the wound. He winced from the pain but tried to act like nothing had happened but Buffy had already noticed. She pulled back breathing heavily and her eyes went straight to the bandage.

"See, you're hurt. So rest, I'll get you some blood", she said and rose from the bed. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the bed. "I promise to behave myself, but you have some making up to do once the wound heals enough."

"Is that a promise?" she asked with a husky voice bending closer to him. "You bet it is." Their lips hovered close to each other for a while before he grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Once she pulled back breathlessly, she looked at him with heavy lidded eyes and whispered: "I'll go get that blood."

She pulled away and quickly went to the kitchen warming the blood from the fridge. Her thoughts went back to the meeting with Adam and how powerless she had felt against him. She didn't like the feeling but now the fight against the thing was personal, nobody messes with her boyfriend.

To be continued...


	15. Little sis

A/N: Okay, this chapter is **LONG**, I was thinking of dividing it to two chapters but since I've been so slow on the updates, I was feeling a little bad and just posted it as one.

A/N2: Some of the dialog is from the Buffy episodes 'This years girl' and 'Who are you' and Angel episodes 'Five by five' and 'Sanctuary'.

Chapter 15: Little sis

Buffy jerked awake with her heart bounding, her hair clung to her face from sweat and she was breathing hard. She spun around when she felt a gentle hand on her back but relaxed as soon as she saw Angel looking back at her concerned.

"You okay?" "Yeah, just a dream. With Technicolor and surround sound", she said still feeling a little dazed.

"A prophetic dream?" he asked still stroking her back calmingly. "I don't know", she sighed and took a deep breathe. Angel pulled her against his chest and pressed a small kiss to the top of her head. She relaxed against him and let her eyes close but she knew sleep wouldn't come again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly slowly running his hand up and down her bare arm. "It was about Faith. We were putting new sheets to the bed and she said that little sis is coming. What ever it means..." She closed her eyes once more but she couldn't get the words out of her head, 'little sis is coming'.

Angel watched her as she closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep, he couldn't help but worry what might happen if it was a prophetic dream. He smoothed her hair back and pressed a soft kiss to her head. A small smile rose to his lips as he saw her smile without opening her eyes.

.

The gang had gathered at Giles' apartment, they all knew they weren't in the Initiative's good graces and they needed a way to destroy Adam. All day Buffy hadn't gotten the dream out of her head, the words 'little sis is coming' kept repeating in her mind.

She was sitting on the arm rest of the chair that Angel was sitting in, her mind was so occupied that she didn't even notice that she was playing with the short hairs in the back of his neck. But the others noticed the small show of affection, especially Xander who still hated Angel with passion, more out of habbit than lust for Buffy since he had started to develop real feelings towards Anya.

But no one of the gang noticed sickly pale Faith on the window, looking ready to destroy their lives, but she didn't make her move yet, she needed weapons and to gather her strength back, thanks to her slayer healing it shouldn't take long.

The phone rang and Giles went to answer it, to his surprise the call wasn't for him but for Buffy. Slowly abandoning her comfortable place next to Angel, she went to the phone and Angel could see the serious change on her face as she listened to the caller. He started to get worried since he couldn't hear more than few words here and there from the caller.

"Thank you for calling. I'll keep my eyes open", she said to the phone before hanging up. She took a deep breathe and turned to the gang that was looking at her expectantly.

"Faith woke up", she said and everybody stayed in a stunned silence. "She beat someone and just walked out the hospital with her clothes."

"She really has a bad timing", Xander said shaking his head. Buffy nodded solemnly and went to sit next to Angel. He looked at her concerned and gently took her hand into his. She turned to look at him with a sad smile on her lips.

"Are you okay?" he asked knowing that Faith's waking up affected her the most. She nodded and sighed.

"Yeah. Now we know what the dream was about, she woke up, just like she said: little sis is coming. I just wish the dreams would come with a longer warning period. Why do prophecy dreams haveco be so cryptic?" Angel just smiled at her not saying anything since he knew it was a rhetorical question.

"We'll get through this. Maybe there's still a chance of reaching her." Buffy smiled at him. "I hope so", she whispered even though she was afraid it was too late. Buffy stood up drawing everybody's attention.

"Okay, listen up. Faith's awake now and we don't know what she's up to so, be careful and don't go anywhere alone", she cautioned the others and received nods and confirms but it did nothing to shake the uneasy feeling she had.

.

Buffy and Willow were walking on campus, it was between classes but they didn't have a hurry. "So, how was your night?" Willow asked and glanced at her friend. A small frown marred Buffy's face.

"Angel and I patrolled, no sign of Faith." "Think she'll show?" "I don't know, with Faith you never know and I don't know which one I'm hoping for." They both stopped walking as they saw Faith standing by the announcement board. She turned to them, looking cocky.

"So. Check you out, B. Nice. The 'big girl on campus' thing's really working for you", she said running her gaze up and down Buffy's body. Buffy walked closer to her sister slayer but didn't let her guard down.

"I've been looking for you." "I've been standing still for eight months, B. How hard you look?" "Are you all right?" Buffy asked concerned but tried to keep it out of her voice.

"Five by five. That's the thing about a coma, you come out all rested and rejuvenated", Faith answered walking closer to Buffy swaying her hips cockily. "And ready for pay back", she added with hard voice and her face was not any softer.

"So much for the pleasantries, huh?" "What'd you think? I'd wake up and we'd go for tea? You tried to gut me, blondie."

"You were going to do the same to me if I'd given you the chance", Buffy answered her voice hardening as she remembered the time Faith had switched sides and the reason she had attacked her sister slayer. Faith smirked cocking her head and taking a step closer. "So let's give it another go. See who lands on top."

"It doesn't have to be like this you know", Buffy tried but Faith would have none of it. "Actually, I think it has to be exactly like this. There's only one slayer, do you think thou once I kill you, will there be another one called? Since you already died once, I would be guessing not."

"Not here, not now. These are innocent people", Buffy said her voice hardening another notch. "No such animal", was the simple answer from Faith.

"I guess it was too much to hope you'd used your down time to reflect and grow." "Right back at'ya. You're still the self-righteous bitch, fucking your vampire and forgetting all about the fact that you stabbed me and put me into a coma for eight months. I guess the whole soul thing was a smoke screen. You kept going like nothing happened, everything was just sunny days and flowers for you while I lost eight months of my life."

"You tried to kill Angel", Buffy said with a low voice and looked at the brunette with cold eyes. "Yeah, that was very bad of me", Faith said not an inch of regret in her voice. She took menacing steps closed to Buffy who didn't cover in front of her.

"I see he drank from you. And that's what you saved, he's an animal just like the rest of them", Faith said and made her move, she hit Buffy but she managed to catch her fist into hers before it collided into her face. Buffy punched her fist back to Faith's face with her own still in her hand and the brunette slayer went down to the ground. Quickly recovering, Faith swept Buffy's feet from under her and she fell hard to the ground.

Faith was about to make her move when Willow crept behind her and hit her with a chair. She staggered but didn't fall and with a murderous glare she spun around hitting the chair from Willows hands. She was about to go after Willow when Buffy jumped up from the ground keeping the psychotic slayer away from her friend. Neither of the slayers made a move, sizing the situation while they could here the police sirens closing and soon see the officers making their way towards them.

"You took my life, B. Payback's a bitch." "Look who's talking", Willow piped up from behind Buffy but Faith didn't pay any attention to her. "See ya 'round", she said before she dashed into run, going through the cops like they were feather light. Quickly Buffy followed running after her but once she reached the campus wall, she couldn't see Faith anywhere.

Once Buffy made sure Willow was safely in their dorm room, she went to Angel, afraid that Faith would go after him. Neither of them knew that Faith had followed her back to the mansion and what she saw only fueled her anger. The love that shone from both of them even more now than eight months earlier, all the comforting touches and gentle kisses were making her want to punish them for taking what should have been hers. With cold determination in her eyes she turned around in her heals and headed towards the other person who meant the most to the older slayer. A wicked smile rose to her lips as she thought about her plan.

.

When the evening went on and there was no sign of Faith, Buffy started to get worried. She told Angel to wait for her which he promised to do after long time of arguing. With a kiss of good luck, Buffy made her way back to her former home.

When she arrived, the lights were on and knowing to be cautious, she sneaked to the window and saw Faith pacing on the end of the bed where her mother was sitting. Right then Buffy saw red, she dived through the window catching Faith and pulling her away from her mother. Buffy rolled to her feet and glanced at her mother.

"Hi mom. You okay?" "Hi honey. I'm alright", Joyce answered. Soon Faith recovered and attacked Buffy. She tackled her, both of them landing through the door to the hallway. They both jumped to their feet and started sending fierce punches at each other. Faith grabbed Buffy as she lost balance and they both rolled down the stairs ending up to the dining room. They jumped back to their feet and attacked again. Faith kept glancing at the kitchen where the sharp objects were but Buffy managed to keep her away from the door.

"Oh, I saw Angel, boy is he looking good. But he does look little tense, maybe another roll in the sack would help to that. What, B, not keeping your man satisfied?" Faith taunted and Buffy's face darkened, Faith with Angel was still a sore spot for her. She hit Faith hard enough to send her flying over the dining table to the hall. She jumped over the table and went after the brunette. Faith made a dash to the living room, quickly grabbing a picture frame from the table and throwing it at Buffy, but Buffy grabbed it from air and placed it back to a table before going after her sister slayer.

They could hear the police sirens screaming near, coming closer. "The cops", Faith whispered more to herself than anyone else. "That's right, end of the game", Buffy said but Faith wasn't ready to give up. She took a run towards the box the mayor had left her and quickly she fastened the metallic device to her hand. Buffy went after her and grabbed her by the shoulder spinning her around. Faith grabbed Buffy's hand into hers and the device started to glow spreading the light around their arms till it gave a strong pulse of energy. The two slayers looked at each other stunned, till suddenly Buffy hit Faith sending her unconsciously to the floor. She threw the device to the ground and smashed it with the sole of her shoe grinding it to pieces.

Soon after the cops rushed to the house lifting the unconscious body of Faith off the ground. Joyce ran to Buffy and pulled her into a tight hug. "Are you okay, honey?" Buffy just shrugged Joyce off of her and answered with a small smile playing on her lips: "Five by five."

.

(Since now Buffy is in Faith's body and Faith in Buffy's body, it could get confusing, so I'm gonna use the names of who is in the body not who it belongs to, hope you're not confused already)

.

Buffy drifted in and out of consciousness, she knew she had been drugged since her body felt heavy with some substance she had been given in the hospital, at least she was quite sure she had been in a hospital. Later she managed to wake up, the sedative wearing off, finding herself chained into the back of a van and soon discovered that the men holding her there were Council assassins.

During the night she tried to escape, she grabbed one of the men with her legs, pinning him down. The other came out but her threats were in vain because the others were ready to let Faith kill their comrade before untying her. Buffy shocked by the act, she knew Council was cold but not that cold, as the others walked away, she kicked the unconscious man off the van. She wasn't a killer but she didn't know how to get away alive, she knew those men wouldn't hesitate to kill her, especially the leader who had been called Collins.

.

Angel was about to go on a patrol when Faith in Buffy's body stepped from the door. "Hey", she said with lust dripping from her voice. Angel looked at her in question, he could smell her arousal but once she quickly walked to him, jumping into his arms and pulling him into a passionate kiss, he smelled something other that disturbed him.

Angel pulled away and looked at Buffy, she looked different, heavy make up and leather pants, he also could smell Spike and Riley on her. He tried to suppress a growl of anger but didn't manage to keep it down. A shiver ran through Faith's body as she heard the deep growl coming from him, he couldn't have known she wasn't Buffy.

"We should go to patrol", Angel said and tried to go past her but she grabbed his arm pulling him back.

"It's dead out there, I have a better idea, why don't we have some fun for a change", she drawled out with a husky voice and ran her her fingertips up and down his arm. "Adam is still out there", Angel said trying to ignore the act. Faith had no idea of who Adam was but she tried to pretend she did. She rose to her tiptoes and licked his earlobe.

"He can wait one night", she whispered and ran her hand to his chest and down. Angel stopped her hand and turned her around to face him.

"What's going on, Buffy?" he asked harshly, the scent of two other men were driving him out of control. "Come on, lover. Don't be that way", Faith said with a pout and tried to free her hand from his grip but her wouldn't let go of her. He looked at her closely, like trying to find out why she was acting so strange.

"You were supposed to come by earlier, I was worried. What happened at your mom's house?" he asked concerned and Faith's eyes hardened a notch. "Not much, Faith came by and the cops took her. I just had to go tell the gang and we went out to party", she shrugged and leaned closer to him showing her cleavage.

"Yes, I can tell", he said grimly as the smell of several other men attacked his nose. "Come on, Angie. It's not like I fucked any of them", she said and Angel turned sharply to her, she had just slipped. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. His eyes inspected every inch of her face till they stopped to her eyes, looking sharply like he was staring right inside her head.

"Who are you?" he ground out with a feral growl. Faith just laughed with false bravado, truthfully she was scared shitless with the wild look in his eyes.

"And what makes you say that, lover?" Recognition shone from his eyes and he growled her name: "Faith." "That's right, Angie", she answered and freed herself from his iron grip.

"What did you do to her?" Angel growled barely keeping his anger in check. "That's for me to know and you to find out", she answered and sprinted into run. Angel went after her but she disappeared into the night. Disappointedly he returned back inside to fetch his weapons so he could go warn the others that Faith was in Buffy's body.

But he didn't get out of the mansion when he was struck from behind, knocked unconscious. Faith grinned at the still body of Angel and chained him into the wall. "Kinky", she grinned to herself and sparing one last glance at the vampire before leaving the mansion. She thought about leaving the door open to wait for sunrise but dismissed it, it would be too quick and lacked imagination.

.

Buffy heard as the men spoke about killing her, torching up the warehouse and making it look like an accident. So she had to work quickly before it was too late. She heard the footsteps closing and two men arguing. She laid down on the floor and once Collins put his gun hand through the bars, she grabbed him with her legs and pulled him roughly against the bars. He fell unconsciously to the floor and she grabbed the gun, shooting the chains off and then at the lock of the door. She jumped to the drivers seat trying to find the keys.

The third man, Weatherby ran to the door but Buffy slammed it hard to his face sending him unconscious to the ground. Quickly she started the car and stepped on the gas, ducking down to cover as the only remaining council assassin shot at her. She sped through the door and didn't stop till she reached the mansion. She jumped off the car and ran to the door.

"Angel!" Soon she noticed him, struggling against the chains he was tied to. Suddenly he stopped and looked up, straight to Buffy. "Buffy", he whispered and her heart jumped as she knew he had noticed it was her. "Angel", she whispered automatically and rushed to him. She quickly found the spare key and unlocked the manacles.

As soon as his hands were free, she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him into a gently but still passionate kiss. They pulled apart, she smiled slightly at him and whispered: "Hey." Then she cocked her head to the side and continued: "How you know it was me?"

"If I were blind, I would see you. No matter whose the body is, you can't change the person inside it. Once she noticed I knew, she knocked me cold and chained to the wall. We need to warn the others."

"Okay, let's go. Good thing I brought a van, you know it's sunny out there." "Why did you come with a van?" he asked and looked at her in question.

"Oh, I was kidnapped by the council assassins and they were going to burn me alive with an old warehouse", she answered like it was no big deal. Angel grabbed her hand, spinning her around and growled out barely keeping his demon in check: "What?"

"They were going to kill Faith making it look like an accident, but they wouldn't believe me when I tried to tell them I wasn't Faith. I thought the Council was supposed to be the good guys but more and more things makes me doubt it."

"They better hope they will never cross my path", Angel ground out and counted in his mind the many ways he could make them sorry ever stepping into Sunnydale. "Down boy. We better go see Giles, he'll know what to do."

.

Buffy and Angel ran through Giles' door. Angel shed the blanket off of him and turned to look at Giles who had frozen in place.

"Faith", he said and then added questioningly: "Angel?" "Giles, I'm not Faith, she had some device that switched our bodies", Buffy tried to explain and took slow steps towards him. Giles looked at her nervously and glanced at Angel, trying to figure out his part in this.

"Alright, let me tie you down without killing me and we'll find a way to confirm what you are telling me is the truth", Giles suggested and Buffy rolled her eyes. "Giles, we don't have time for bondage fun. Faith is roaming out there in my body. You changed into a demon and I knew it was you by your eyes. Can't you just look into my eyes and get all intuitive? Or okay, ask me something."

"Who's the president?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "We're checking for Buffy, not concussion. Ask me something only I can know." "Umm, right. How did I become a demon?"

"Ethan Rayne did it. And you've got a girlfriend, Olivia and you haven't had a job since I blew up the high school, but it's okay, you're not a slacker type. And when I was infected by the demon aspect, I heard my mom think you're like a stevedore during sex. Would you like me to continue?" Giles shook his head embarrassed.

"Actually, I beg you to stop", he said with a slight nervous stutter. "What's a stevedore?" she asked Giles and then turned to Angel when Giles obviously wasn't going to answer her but neither was Angel.

"Alright, why don't you tell me what happened?" Giles encouraged calmly but Buffy was anything but. "We don't have time, Giles, she's in my body", she pointed out and the door swung open, Willow and Tara walking in.

"Willow! " "Oh my God", Willow gasped in amazement. "I can explain...", Buffy started but was interrupted by Willow:

"I know, you're Buffy, Faith switched your bodies, probably with a Draconian Katra spell." Everyone except Tara looked at Willow in question. "How did you..." Buffy asked and Willow signed to Tara that was standing next to her.

"Tara. Tara, this is Buffy, only the real Buffy this time." "Hi", Tara greeted shyly and gave a small wave of a hand. "Tara's a really powerful witch", Willow said with pride in her voice. "Not really", Tara mumbled in protest.

"No really, and she knew right away that you weren't you so we connected with the nether realm and found out what had happened and then we conjured this", Willow said and pulled out a small box that had a green glowing light. "Is that?" Buffy started to ask and Willow nodded enthusiasticly.

"It's a Katra, or the home-made one. It should switch you back, if you can get hold of Faith." "Oh, thank you! You're the best", Buffy said and pulled Willow into a hug. "Yes, well..." Giles started but was interrupted by the ringing phone. He turned around and answered it.

"Hello? Yes, Xander, she is here. What channel? Yes, thank you." He hung up the phone and went to the television, turning the power on. "That was Xander, there is a special news report on television", he explained and everyone turned to watch. The news reporter told about disfigured kidnappers that were keeping people hostage in a church.

"Giles, you drive", Buffy said and everyone turned to leave. Buffy stopped and stepped in front of Angel placing her hand on his chest. "Your not coming, it's daylight." "Buffy", he protested shaking his head but was silenced when Buffy pressed her finger to his lips.

"Angel, please. I need to do this on my own, facing Faith. And it's daylight out there and we're going to a church, that's two good reasons you to not come to this gig. Please wait here", she asked then leaned closer in her tiptoes and whispered: "And I'll make it up to you later, once I'm in my own body." Angel quickly glanced at the others and then turned his gaze back to Buffy who was looking at him seductively, the look in her eyes almost made him groan.

"Alright, I'll stay here. But I don't like it", he gave in and that brought a bright smile to her lips. "Thank you", she said and pulled him into a passionate kiss that made the others turn away to give them privacy. "Okay, I'll see you later", Buffy said licking her lips as they pulled apart.

.

When they arrived to the church, Buffy managed to sneak past the reporters, police and Riley to inside. As she sneaked inside, she saw Faith being badly beaten by a vampire that was shooting his mouth off while doing it. Quickly she went to them and staked the vampire. For a moment Faith looked at her in surprise but then she attacked, knocking Buffy down to the ground and started pounding her fist at her.

"I'm not afraid of you! You're nothing! You're disgusting! A useless murderous bitch!" Faith screamed, tears running down her cheeks as she hit Buffy who was just blocking the blows. "You're nothing!" she screamed again and suddenly Buffy grabbed her hand into hers, the Kantra in her palm. It pulsed energy and both girls looked little surprised when they were back in their own bodies again. After a moment, Faith kicked Buffy off of her and scrambled to her feet, running away from the church.

Buffy breathed deep, trying to gather her strength before getting up and walking out. As soon as she stepped out the door, she was stopped by Riley. "Buffy! Are you okay?" he asked concerned and tried to pull her close but Buffy took a step back looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"What? Yeah, I'm okay. The vamps are taken care of", she answered and looked at him scrutinizingly.

"Good. What happened last night? I haven't got it out of my mind, you left so suddenly", he said and again tried to take her hand into his but Buffy took a step back, cold chills running down her spine as she thought what Faith might have done.

"What happened last night?" she asked almost afraid of the answer. "I thought that after the dance and the kiss, we would go to my dorm but you just disappeared. Buffy, I can't get the kiss out of my head." Buffy looked at him startled, she felt dirty and guilty. She took a step back and held her hand up.

"Well try harder. It never happened", she said and quickly walked past him. "But Buffy..." he yelled after her and tried to follow but she sprinted into run loosing him quickly.

.

Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed, his arms were circled around her tightly and his fingers were making mindless patterns on her shoulder.

"She kissed Riley", Buffy whispered with barely there voice. "I know", he whispered back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She turned to look at him.

"How?" Angel took a deep breathe he didn't need, it wasn't something he liked remembering. "I could smell him on your body." But seeing the guilty look on her face, he grabbed her chin with his fingers and brought her back up to look at him.

"Sweetie, it wasn't you. Buffy, it was Faith, not you. You had no control of what she did." "But I don't know what she did and with who. It's driving me crazy and I feel used, and dirty and like I have cheated on you", she said with a sadness marring her voice and face.

"Buffy, love, you have nothing to feel bad about. And Riley was the only one she kissed", he tried to assure her leaving off that he had smelled several other men in her scent, including Spike, but they weren't strong enough to be intimate so maybe it was better that she didn't know. He smoothed her hair back and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Love, look at me. You didn't do anything wrong. And I love you, no matter what happened or could have happened, I love you and I know it wasn't you." He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and gazed into her eyes showing the truth in his eyes. "I love you", she whispered and pulled him into a gentle kiss. Once it ended, he pulled her closer placing her against his chest. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, she felt better but she still had mixed feelings gnawing inside her.

.

Willow and Xander convinced Buffy to go to the Bronze with them, to get her mind off of things. She just hoped she wouldn't run into Riley, she had done everything in her power to avoid him when she wasn't on the psych class. They made their way towards an empty table but something made Buffy stop, she turned to look into the dance floor and saw Faith dancing to the beat with group of guys around her. Their eyes locked and she smirked before making her way to her sister slayer.

"Hey big sis", she said and took a confident lanky pose in front of her. "I thought you'd been smart enough to skip town."

"What can I say, I love this town. Got all I need, plenty of guys and demons to play with. Speaking of playing, I must say, being in a coma for eight months might have fractured my memory a little but Angel is just as good in the sack as I remembered. Must compliment the vamp stamina", she said and Buffy's face darkened. She punched Faith hard, making her fly to the dance floor knocking down a group of people. She jumped up and the two slayers traded furious punches.

Faith grabbed a hold of Buffy and whispered to her ear: "It was one hell of a ride." Then she jumped back and ran out the door knocking people out of her way. Buffy ran after her but lost her into the darkness of an alley. She jumped to the roof of the building but didn't see her anymore. Slowly she turned around and went back to the Bronze, Faith's words feeding her insecurities. She couldn't face up Angel just yet, so she decided to spend the night at her dorm room.

.

Angel glanced at the clock, there was still no trace of Buffy, she hadn't come for the night and since it was day, he couldn't go see her to find out what was the matter. He set the book down, he couldn't concentrate enough to read. Once he turned got up and turned around, the door swung open flooding the room with sunlight. Angel quickly went to the shadows and he could see Faith by the door.

"Hey baby, sorry about the light but you're looking so pale, you could use a good tan", Faith said and stepped closer swinging her hips suggestively. "I was hoping you'd stop by", he answered casually. "Oh, you missed me, huh?" she said with fake sweetness dripping from her voice but it was all gone when she pulled out a gun.

"What? Wooden bullets?" A smile rose to her face. "Oh, I like that idea. But this is for you, I'm going to kill you slowly and inventively, so I'm gonna give you one chance to...", she said and tossed the gun to Angel. He grabbed it from air and shot her leg but there was nothing, they were blanks.

"Blanks. Nice", he said and tossed the gun back at her. She giggled. "Aww, you didn't shoot to kill, that's just lame going for the leg. I'll just have to raise the stakes, to get you into the game a little more."

"And what is the game? Boredom? Revenge?" "Hey, I got my reasons. Wanna get one moment of happiness before I kill you?" she suggested pushing her chest out. "No thanks." Faith's face darkened and she aimed the gun, shooting Angel to the chest. He staggered back gasping in pain.

"Oh gosh! That wasn't a blank. See you later, lover", she said and sprinted out the door into the sunlight. Angel looked at the wound, he wasn't going to be able bandage it by himself. He went to the phone and dialed a number.

"Hey Giles, it's Angel. Could you come by here soon? I'll explain when you get here, I just met Faith. Okay, I'll see you then. Oh and don't tell Buffy." He hung up the phone and waited for Giles. It didn't take long for him to show up, he closed the door behind him and came closer to Angel, immediately noticing the bullet wound.

"She shot you?" he asked incredulously. "Yeah. It's a game for her and she didn't take it well when I didn't want to play." "Alright, we better bandage you even though I suspect there is no danger of infection."

"Giles, I don't want Buffy to hear about this. Hopefully I'll be healed before she can suspect anything. I think I know what Faith is after and I don't want her to get it from Buffy." Giles shook his head not liking the idea.

"I don't like it, lying to Buffy. She should know. And are you sure she won't notice that you have been shot?" "Giles, please. It isn't technically lying if you just don't tell her, if she asks, you can tell the truth." Angel looked pleadingly at Giles and finally he sighed rubbing his head before removing his glasses and starting to clean them.

"Very well, but if we won't soon bandage that wound neither of us needs to tell her", he answered in defeat and put the glasses back to his head.

.

The sun had just gone down as Buffy made her way to Giles' apartment but she stopped dead on her tracks when she noticed the door was open and splintered. Quickly she ran inside only finding unconscious Willow on the floor.

"Willow!" she screamed and rushed to her. She dropped to her knees next to her and brushed her hair back, there was no blood but a nasty bruise was forming on her face. She lifted her to the couch and went to the phone, quickly dialing a number.

"Angel! Please come quick to Giles'. Somethings happened, I think it's Faith. Angel, I need you", she said pleadingly and added the last as a whisper. She hung up the phone and fetched an bag of frozen peas as she noticed Willow was starting to wake up.

"Hey", she said with a weak smile and offered the frozen bag to her. "Hey", Willow whispered back and pressed the peas against her face hissing at the coldness against the sore spot.

"It was Faith, and she took Giles", Willow said anxiously and sharply turned to Buffy. "I figured so much. We'll get him back and teach Faith a lesson." At that moment Angel stepped from the door, coming straight to them and placing a comforting hand to Buffy's shoulder.

"Hey Willow. Are you okay?" he asked tentatively and Willow nodded. "Yeah, I'll live. But I don't know about Giles, Faith has him and she isn't exactly stable." Angel frowned.

"She has to be staying somewhere, she doesn't have any money, so could you check if there's been any muggings or something, anything that might fit her", he suggested and she nodded enthusiastically. She got up and started her computer she carried with her.

"Okay, here we go. There's something, a guy was mugged three nights ago. He has a criminal record from muggings with fire arm, so who other than Faith could do that. The mugger took his wallet and keys, he's still in the hospitth browith broken arm and all that", Willow told the others and Angel couldn't help but think that that was how Faith came by with a gun.

"And there's also a guy that was badly beaten, he's in the hospital too, he described his attacker as a 'bitch from Hell', he also lost his wallet, keys and a car. So those are good possibilities", Willow continued. "Faith's been busy", Buffy said to herself and glanced at Angel who had his usual broody expression on his face. Willow scripted the two address' down and handed them to Buffy. She stood up straight and folded her arms in front of her.

"Okay, we better check those guys places, she could be in either one. Angel take the 'bitch-from-Hell-guy and I'll take the mugger, it's quicker if we split up." "Buffy, it's really bad neighborhood, I don't like you going there", Angel tried but Buffy just shook her head.

"Angel, don't. I know how to take care of myself and in Sunnydale there really isn't a bad neighborhood. She has Giles and God knows what she's been doing to him. We both know how to take care of her but we don't have time to argue about this."

"Okay, if there is no sign of her then come to the other place and same goes for me, okay?" he suggested and placed his hand on her cheek. She just nodded. "Be careful", he said and placed a small kiss to her lips. "You too", she answered and they went on their separate ways.

.

Giles was tied to a chair, his appearance was ragged and blood was splattered all over his clothes, his own blood.

"Come on, Giles, don't be that way. It not really personal you know. But then again, you are partly blamed of your situation, you were all tied up to B, I am the real slayer, she's just the previous version. No matter what I did, everyone compared me to that bitch. I'm the better one, I'm the real one! And you let that jerk Wesley pretend to be my watcher, you just didn't care", she rambled while playing with a spray can and a lighter.

"Come on, let's here you scream", she said and pulled down the gag. Giles just glared at her. "You never will. I've been tortured by better sadists than you."

"Admit it, Giles, didn't you always kind of have the hots for me?" she taunted trying to ignore the comment and lit the lighter, ready to spray the can towards the flame and Giles but before she could, the door flew open and Angel walked inside. She dropped the can and the lighter and pulled out a knife, placing it to Giles' throat.

"About time, soul boy. Are you ready to play now?" "I'm ready" , was Angels grim answer. "So you're here, but you don't seem to move. Should I kill watcher here, would it put some move on you?"

"I know what you want." "And what is that? You know, I want a lot of things", Faith answered sarcastically and inched to the side as Angel kept slowly advancing, placing her next to Giles.

"This isn't about Giles. This is about you and me." "No, baby, he's payback. And not to mention, it has been a fun evening." Suddenly Giles threw himself back, falling down to the floor as Angel kicked Faith away from him. Faith stumbled backwards but soon managed to get hold of her footing, she grabbed a chair, braking it against the wall and attacked Angel with a piece of the wood. She ran to Angel but he managed to block the blow and grab the stake from her hand. He pushed her across the room, her landing on a couch and he broke the piece of wood against his knee, throwing it to the corner.

"Is that all you got, vampire? I know you can do better than that, get in the game, be the feared Angelus." She kicked the glass table at him, the pieces of glass showering the room. She grabbed a piece and attacked him, almost cutting his face but he managed to duck before she made contact. He kicked her hand sending the piece of glass shattering to the floor but she managed to kick him, sweeping his feet from under him. She jumped on top of him, taunting him:

"I thought you were bad. Come on, get in the game. You can't beat me, no one can!" She punched him hard in the face but he kicked her off of him, sending her flying to the wall. She jumped up and threw a vase at him which he blocked stepping aside. She jumped over the couch and again attacked Angel, sending kicks and hits on his way but he grabbed her leg sweeping her to the ground. She kicked him to the stomach and jumped up to her feet, sending a roundhouse kick on his way. He fell against the wall, she grabbed him by his jacket and slammed his head against a glass shelf. She tried to kick him but again he took a hold of her leg, sending her flying against the wall. Faith jumped up from the ground with a piece of the wooden chair and attacked him but he tackled her, sending them both diving through the window to the raining street.

"You're gonna die!" she screamed like a mad woman and attacked him, punching and kicking him. "Fight back, damn it! You hear me? You don't know what real evil is! I'm bad! Fight back!" she screamed at him, tears unnoticed running down her cheeks. Angel didn't say anything, didn't fight back, only blocked the oncoming hits.

Finally he grabbed a hold of her, keeping her in strong grip by her shoulders. "Nice try, Faith", he said and tossed her to the ground, then walked to her menacingly. "I know what you want." She jumped to her feet, hitting and screaming at him like a little girl. Angel dodged another hit and grabbed hold of her fist.

"I'm not gonna make it easy for you." Faith threw herself at him and screamed: "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad!" She started sobbing and fell to her knees to the ground, gripping his shirt in her fists.

"I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it!" she screamed at him between loud sobs. Giles ran out of the house with a butcher knife in his hand but stopped once he saw the crying slayer in front of the vampire.

"Angel please, just do it. Just kill me, just kill me", she cried miserably and Angel went down to his knees on the ground, pulling her into his arms. "Shh. It's all right. It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Shh", he comforted her rubbing his hand up and down her back. He turned to look at Giles and nodded that there was no more danger.

.

Angel and Faith returned to the mansion, he gave her dry clothes, that were all too big, and went to light the fireplace. Faith was sitting on the couch, shivering from the cold, she pulled the blanket around her more tightly.

"So, how does this making amends thing work?" she finally asked, looking at Angels back miserably. Angel turned around and walked to the couch, sitting next to her.

"There is no real simple answer to that. I won't lie to you and tell you that it'll be easy, because it won't be. Just because you've decided to change doesn't mean that the world is ready for you to. The truth is, no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past, you may never balance out the cosmic scale. The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted, and may be for the rest of your life."

"I feel sorry for myself already. Is it too late to turn back evil?" "Yeah, it's too late. Do you want something to eat?" Faith turned to him, looking like a little kid.

"Do you have anything to eat, besides blood?" "Buffy practically lives here, there's real food." Her face grumbled as she remembered her sister slayer. "Maybe then I better not." "Or maybe you should."

"Are you saying I got to apologize to everyone?" she asked looking at him. "Think you can?" he questioned.

"I don't' know, how do you say to Giles 'Gee, I'm really sorry tortured you I nearly to death?'" "Well, first off I think I'd leave off the 'Gee.' And secondly I think you have to ask yourself: are you sorry?"

"What if I CAN'T say it? There are some things you can't just take back, no matter how sorry you ARE, right?" she questioned looking more and more girl her own age and not what the slayer was.

"Yeah, there are, I've got some experience in that area." "Right. And you've been doing this for a hundred years! I'm not gonna make it through the next ten minutes", she said getting back her sarcastic self.

"So make it through the next five, the next minute." "I don't think I can. God, it hurts. I hate that it hurts like this", she said getting up from the couch and walked to the fireplace, gazing into the flames. Angel got up and followed her, placing a comforting hand to her shoulder.

"Well, it's supposed to hurt. All that pain, all that suffering you caused is coming back on you. Feel it! Deal with it! Then maybe you've got a shot at being free." Faith gave a short laugh but there was nothing joyous in it.

"I've got to be the first Slayer in history sponsored by a vampire." "Yeah, well, I've got some experience in that area, too." Faith spun around and looked at Angel like a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh God! B! How am I ever going to make things right with her?" she asked frantically. "Faith, this isn't about Buffy", he tried but she shook her head.

"All my life there was only one person that tried to be my friend, went out of her way when I had no right or reason to expect her to... and I screwed her. Not to mention that I told her I slept with her boyfriend, twice."

"Faith, you and I never actually...", he tried to say but Faith interrupted him. "You know that, and I know that. But apparently she doesn't. You really need to work on your sharing skills. Her insecurities are the best way to get to her", she said little accusingly and Angels face twisted into brood mode, they never had actually talked about what happened between him and Faith while he pretended to be evil and he knew all too well how fragile she was, Angelus had used her insecurities against her immediately. Angel shifted nervously in his feet.

"Maybe we should get you some food", he suggested but didn't have time to move when Buffy walked inside the door. She stopped dead on her tracks when she saw Faith and she gazed at them both in question and anger.

"What's going on?" All the worry of seeing the apartment trashed and bloody was gone and in place was anger, she had been to the apartment and been scared that Faith had actually killed Angel. But now she saw he was fine and with Faith, in his clothes. "B", Faith started and took a step closer to her but was stopped by the cold look she gave her.

"I went to the house. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw all the blood and that the place was thoroughly trashed but not a sign from you. And now I find you about to have dinner with Faith. Could you please explain to me?" Buffy said sternly, all warmth gone from her voice, in the place of the woman was now a slayer.

"I'm just gonna... go to the kitchen", Faith said awkwardly and signed towards the kitchen before leaving. Buffy crossed her arms in front of her and looked at the nervous vampire expectantly. "Buffy, look..." he started and took quick steps towards her but she took as many backwards. Angel stopped walking, the hurt shining in his eyes and Buffy forced herself to look somewhere else, she didn't want to see those him in pain.

"She wants to make amends, to change. She took Giles because she wanted me to kill her. She's hurting", he tried but Buffy wasn't so ready to forgive. "And soon she'll be hurting more", she said and tried to make her way to the kitchen but Angel grabbed her arm spinning her around. Her face turned to stone and she looked at him with cold eyes.

"Let go of me, Angel", she said but Angel didn't show any signs of letting go even though he was little taken back by the coldness in her eyes. "Buffy, she needs help and now she wants it too", he said trying to reason.

"She tried to kill you, she took Giles and from what I saw at the house, she tortured him pretty violently, it isn't a cry for help, when you need it you ask for it, you don't go on a killing spree", she said and yanked her arm free.

"I tortured Giles, you forgave me, she isn't all that different", Angel said to her pointedly and she was slightly taken back. "You didn't have a soul, she does. And what makes you think that I have forgiven Angelus?" she answered and walked towards the kitchen.

Buffy stepped into the kitchen and just looking at Faith, she knew she was itching to run. "You're not going to run", she said like it nonnegotiable.

"What you gonna do? Stick another knife into me?" she asked turning to look at her. "Any reason why I shouldn't?" Buffy shot back.

"There is nothing I can do for you, B. I can't ever make it right", she said with pain in her eyes but Buffy didn't let it fool her, she needed to stay focused. "So you're just going to take off again. Leave us to clean up yet another one of your messes."

"It would make things easier for you." "I think it would make things easier for you. Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing - decided to come back to shake things up?" Buffy answered folding her arms in front of her.

"That's not gonna happen", Faith assured her but she didn't let herself hope. "You're right. It's not."

"I knew you weren't going to give me a chance", Faith sighed. "I gave you every chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me. My life was just something for you to play with. Everything you could take from me, you took. You know exactly how much I love Angel and still you took him too. You used my body, I don't even know what all you did with it!"

"If it helps, I haven't slept with Angel, ever. Not in your body or not when he was playing Angelus. I just said it to hurt you." "It doesn't help, much", Buffy whispered, the hard cover finally cracking.

"Just tell me how to make it better", Faith pleaded but Buffy didn't have time to answer when the light from a helicopter shone through the window and they saw Collins sitting on the edge with a machine gun in his hand. Buffy tackled Faith to the ground as Collins opened fire. The items in the kitchen blew into pieces as the council assassin fired at the room. "Buffy!" they could hear Angel scream through the loud noise.

"We need to get out of this room", Buffy told Faith and quickly glanced around the room. For a moment there was a pause in gun fire, with a quick movement Buffy looked out the window and saw Collins loading the gun.

"Go!" she screamed at Faith and they ran to the door. As soon as they managed to get out of it, it was shot into pieces.

"Get down, I need to get to the ground!" Collins yelled at the pilot who as told landed it and Collins hopped down, running towards the mansion. Smith stayed in the helicopter in case they needed air back up. Buffy and Faith ran out of the mansion but the spot light from the helicopter showed their location to Collins. He opened fire and the two slayers dived into the bushes.

"I have to take this guy out. The guy with the gun up there will go for me. You stay here", Buffy said and Faith nodded in agreement. Buffy ran across the yard and tackled Collins from behind. She kicked the gun away from him and tried to kick him but he grabbed her leg, throwing her into the air. She flipped in the air landing to her feet and sweeping his from under him.

Once Angel had found the kitchen in pieces, he left running towards the front door but stopped when an arrow flew by him. He stepped aside into cover and saw Weatherby with a crossbow. His temper flared as he thought of the council goon trying to kill his Buffy. He abandoned his safe place and ran towards him dodging the flying arrows. Once he was close enough, he grabbed the last one in mid air and swatted the crossbow from the mans hands. Without his notice, his face had changed into his vampire form and he pulled the man close to his face growling at him.

"You're lucky I don't kill humans. Because what you did to Buffy would have been a death sentence. After a year or two of torture." The man was shivering in fear, he could see that this vampire wasn't functioning on pure animal instinct, this was pure anger in his eyes. Angel smashed him against the wall with one quick move and the man fell unconscious to the floor. But soon he was waken from the rage when he heard the gun shots.

Quickly he made his way outside where he saw Buffy fighting Collins. He saw as Buffy knocked the man down and that's when he sprinted across the yard and jumped to the helicopters rung. He grabbed Smiths leg and pulled him out of the helicopter, dropping him to the ground, landing on top of Collins. Angel climbed into the helicopter and told the pilot to land. Buffy turned around and called Faith's name but she was nowhere to be seen. She had split after all.

.

Buffy was sitting on the couch staring at the fire mindlessly. Angel watched her for a while before walking closer and sitting next to her. "Buffy", he whispered and she turned to look at him, her eyes sad like a lost puppy.

"Faith split", she just said and turned to look at the fire once more. "I know", he whispered and after small silence, he took hold of her hand. She turned to look at him and the look on her face hurt him, she looked so lost, fragile, like a normal teenage girl. She had started to believe her, but this was another reminder that people don't change, not really.

"Buffy, I know my communication skills are slim to none, I know I should have told you lot of things but some of them were too painful that I didn't want to remind you of them. I haven't slept with Faith, ever, I know I should have told you that in so many words and not leave any doubt of what happened but it was too difficult. And now that she was in your body, we didn't sleep together, I would never do that to you. I'm sorry", he said and looked down in shame when he noticed the tear falling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry too, I should have believed in you more. I know you don't want to hurt me, but you are the only person who has the power to do so, even unintentionally. I love you so much that sometimes it hurts. But I wouldn't change it for the world. Well, bad example." Angel lifted his gaze to hers and pulled her into his arms breathing in her scent.

"I love you, Buffy, don't ever forget that", he whispered to her ear and pressed a small kiss next to it. She let out a small sob and pressed her face against his shoulder, trying to get hold of her emotions. The moment was interrupted by the phone and grudgingly he got up from the couch to answer the phone but keeping his eyes on Buffy who was wiping the spilled tears away from her cheeks.

"Yes, Giles, I'll give the phone to Buffy", he said to the phone and handed the phone to her. "Hello, Giles. I'm fine... Are you okay? Good... Really, I can't believe it... That's good news, I guess... Okay, take it easy. Bye", she hung up the phone and turned to look at Angel.

"Faith surrendered herself to the police. She just walked to a police station and gave herself up", she told him and sat next to him on the couch curling against him. "That's good. She's making her amends", he said not surprised and brushed her hair back before placing a gentle kiss to her cheek.

"Maybe she's doing it for real. At least I hope she is", she whispered more to herself than him and let herself relax first time in days, she just melted against him and closed her eyes with a sigh.

To be continued...


	16. Bad moon rising

Chapter 16: Bad moon rising

Buffy and Angel were patrolling on the campus near the Lowell house. "It seems real quiet, maybe we should just call it a night", Buffy suggested, her fingers making mindless patterns on his hand without her even noticing.

"Yeah, maybe we should", he whispered and leaned into a kiss. Soon the kiss turned more passionate and they stumbled back till her back hit a tree. He pulled away from her lips concentrating on her neck. She pulled in a ragged breathe and threaded her fingers in his hair.

"Maybe we should go to my dorm room, it's closer... And Willow is with Tara", she suggested breathlessly and soon all thought disappeared from her mind as Angel sucked roughly at the scar.

"Yeah", he mumbled against her neck but soon their moment of passion was interrupted by a growl. They pulled apart and attacked the vampire that noticed far too long that it wasn't a easy pray he had spotted. Buffy pounded her fists into the vampire before kicking him, sending him flying several feet landing on Angel who grabbed him and continued what Buffy had started. Buffy quickly grabbed the crossbow and aimed at the vampire Angel was holding in his iron grip but before she could shoot, Angel and the vampire were tackled down by a demon with horns. Angel jumped quickly to his feet and Buffy handed him a stake.

"You take fangs, I'll get horny", she said and blushed when she realized what it sounded like. "I umm... mean... You know what I mean", she corrected and attacked the demon while Angel went after the vampire. It didn't take long till the demon was dead on the ground and the vampire was dust. They met in the half way and took a hold of each others hands without over noticing.

"That was weird", Angel said while his fingers were threading and unwinding between hers then slowly sliding their way up her arm to her shoulder. "Yeah", she whispered breathlessly.

"Demons and vampires don't work together", Angel added but his mind was busy with other things. "I know, that's why it's weird. We should tell Giles, it's very Giles-y thing", she said and leaned into his touch as his balm cupped her cheek.

"Yes, we should", he confirmed and leaned to kiss her, first gently to her cheek till he trailed down to her lips capturing them gently. The kiss grew with passion and soon they found themselves in a heated embrace. Angel pulled away and started dragging her towards her dorm house with no resistance.

"We'll tell Giles later", she said and he nodded. "Tomorrow." "First thing", she added and pushed her against the wall of a dorm house in the dark corner. She attacked his lips and he lifted her to his arms, her legs wrapping around him instinctively. He pushed her against the wall and they lost themselves in passion.

.

The gang had gathered at Giles' apartment discussing the event of night before. Buffy was sitting on Angels lap and playing with the short hair on the back of his neck while her other hand playing with his fingers.

"There's always been great discord between them. And yet you say that the vampire went to the demon's aid. The two of them working as a team", Giles clarified in wonder. "Everything except giving each other little pats on the behind."

"Extraordinarily odd. As a rule, demons have no empathy for species other than their own. In fact, most consider vampires abominations, mixing with human blood and all", he explained and gave Angel an apologetic smile.

"So what brought these two together?" Willow asked. "Not what, but who", Angel answered her and Giles nodded in understanding before saying Adam's name.

"Think about it. Who better to bring a bunch of demon types together than someone that's made up of a bunch of demon types?" "So he's, um, bridging the gap between the races?" Tara asked uncertainly.

"Huh. Like Martin Luther King. But probably a lot less eloquent… and with the… evil… so, different than Martin Luther King. Let's move on", Willow said and went quiet as she thought about it more.

"Well, I'd suggest that for the next several nights, you two concentrate your patrol in that same area. If you find any other peculiar pairings or groupings let me know", Giles said ignoring Willows rambling.

"Can't tonight, we're going to the party at Lowell house", Buffy answered and Giles looked at her giving her a look that told he wasn't happy. "We're going to keep an eye out for the commandos", Buffy explained seeing the look he was giving her.

"Are you certain it is a good idea?" Giles asked her taking off his glasses and starting to clean them. "Yeah", she confirmed squirming a little in Angels lap. He grabbed her hips keeping her still while trying to make the move as unnoticeable as possible.

"You're welcome to come with us to the party", Willow offered but Giles shook his head. "As much as I long for a good kegger, I have plans. The Espresso Pump." "What are you doing?" Tara asked.

"I'm… it's a meeting of grown-ups. It couldn't possible be of interest to you lot." "You have grown-up friends?" Willow asked somewhat accusingly. "A few."

"We should go take care of that demon problem", Angel said to Buffy and she nodded. "Yes, that demon problem. Guys, we need to go. See you later", she said and dragger Angel along with her, giving him only time to grab his blanket. Everyone turned to look as the couple darted to the sunlight. Anya who had been quiet because of the fight with Xander was the one to brake the silence.

"They've been having a lot of demon problems lately, even during the day. I bet it's a codeword for sex. Everyone else is having sex except for me", she said and huffing crossed her arms in front of her.

.

Buffy pulled her shirt on and turned to look at Angel who was appreciating the view. He just smirked as she rolled her eyes, sometimes he was just like every other male on the planet.

"Sorry, I have to go", she said and walked to him before leaning in for a kiss. She tried to pull away but he took a hold of her arm and pulled her into his lap. She let out a slight scream through the kiss but didn't let it break. Finally he released her lips and with a self-satisfied smile smoothed her hair back.

"You're a bad man", she whispered still breathless from the kiss. He just laughed and let her get up from the couch. "You know, I have to go to the party. We need to know what the Initiative is up to and Willow wants me to get to know Tara. And I have to spend some time with my friends, I've been neglecting them for... other activities", she explained like she was trying to justify herself.

"I know. You deserve some fun", he assured her and gave a small squeeze to her hand. "I'm having fun with you", she said and leaned in for a gentle kiss just barely touching his lips.

"And if you come by with some demon problems, just stop by at the party, I'm sure the others will understand", she whispered against his lips and quickly pulled away out of his reach. She gave him a innocent smile and started walking away.

.

The party was nice, it was good to spend some time with her friends for a change and she didn't even notice that Riley had been staring at her nearly the whole time she had been there. Xander was telling them what happened with Anya earlier that day and Buffy couldn't help but laugh.

"You sure know how to pick them, Xander", she said to him with a smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, I'm starting to question my sanity. Am I crazy?"

"I don't know if there's a right answer for that", Buffy answered still smiling but her smile just grew when she felt the familiar feeling of Angel being near. She turned and scanned the crowd looking for him.

"Is she alright?" Xander asked seeing the absent look and broad smile on his friend. "Yeah, it's just the Angel tinkling", Willow told Xander and Tara before turning to Buffy. "Maybe this is a good time to tell I borrowed the new peasant top and accidentally spilled something purple-y on it. Do you still love me?"

"Sure", was Buffy's distracted answer till she realized what Willow had tried to say. "What about the top?" she asked but was again even more distracted when she found Angel making his way towards her.

"Buffy", he whispered and got the breathy 'Angel' in return. Tara was watching the exchange in fascination while Xander just scowled, of course Angel had to come and steal Buffy away. "I need to talk to you", Angel said and Buffy nodded before turning to her friends.

"Sorry guys, I'll be right back", she said and lead Angel away from the crowd. Angel kept looking around himself feeling distracted till he finally turned back to Buffy who was looking at him slightly worried.

"This house feels weird", he stated and again glanced around him suspiciously. "Maybe it's because the Initiative is right under it", Buffy suggested but Angel shook his head after short time of considering the option.

"Not that kind of weird, something else. Like here is something else." "Don't worry about it", she said and ran her hand up and down his arm but stopped when something like strong electricity ran through both of them. When she pulled her hand away like the touch had burned, she was breathing heavily, her eyes hazed with lust she stared at Angel.

"This can't be good", she whispered. "Definitely not", he agreed, his fingers trailing up her arm before cupping her neck and bending down for a kiss. The kiss got more intense by the second, Angel wrapped his arms around her and pushed her against the wall, lifting her in the air. Her fingers were working on the buttons of his shirt when they pulled away from the wall and he placed her back on her feet.

"Come on", she said grabbing his hand and quickly leading him upstairs where they stepped in the first bedroom door they could find. He lifted her back in his arms and slammed her against the door, working on the lock with his other hand. Quickly they shed their clothes, they couldn't seem to stop touching each other. Angel pulled out of the door with Buffy still in his arms and with few long strides they reached the bed.

.

A scream echoed through the house. Angel released Buffy's lips and quickly looked at the door. "Was that Willow?" he asked out of breathe and turned to look at Buffy who was under him in the bed. "I don't know", she answered and grabbed the back of his neck pulling him into another heated kiss. All thought of Willow was lost in their mind as the kiss only grew more passionate.

When weirder and weirder things started happening and the party goers started running away in panic, the scooby gang knew what they had to do.

"We need to find Buffy", Willow voiced the obvious. "Yeah, but where did they go?" Xander confirmed.

"I bet they went to have sex", Anya piped up and looked Xander grudgingly. "They did not go have sex!" Xander protested.

"I... I saw them go upstairs", Tara said awkwardly. "I told you, they went to have sex." The gang glanced at the stairs before quickly going upstairs banging on every door they could find and yelling Buffy's and Angel's name. Finally they all gathered in front of Riley's door and started banging on it. "Buffy! Angel!" Willow yelled but there was no answer and the door wouldn't open.

Buffy pulled away from Angel and looked at the door. "Did you hear something?" she asked trying to steady her breathe. "Not a thing", he answered and pulled her into another kiss rolling them around so that she was under him. She wrapped her arms around him deepening the kiss and pulling him even closer if it was possible.

"Buffy!" Willow yelled again but a thread of vines started to snake from under the door and she jumped back. Xander tried to open the door by using his shoulders but it wouldn't budge and they were interrupted when the whole house started shaking.

The house started clearing from partiers, the scooby gang along with them and as soon as the people were out the house shifted back to eerie calm. Xander tried to go back inside but he was thrown out, literally and they decided to go for Giles' help, all except Tara shocked to find him singing in the Espresso Pump.

While the gang was searching, Buffy and Angel were still adsorbed in each other, not getting enough. Without them noticing the vines started tracing the house growing along the walls and covering everything. Angel rolled to his back but didn't let go of her hand, tracing small patterns on the skin. Very pale Buffy shifted to her side and reached out to him.

"You're too far away. I can't stop touching you", she whispered exhausted and rose to on top of him. He pulled her into a gentle kiss that kept growing more heated before he rolled them around.

.

Xander and Anya tried to make their way to the room while the others were chanting for the children. When Xander and Anya finally reached the door, he hesitated before starting to bang the door.

"What are you doing?" came Willows voice from behind them, startling both of them. "Willow! What you doing here?" Xander asked. "The kids disappeared, I figured you could use the help. Why aren't you breaking down the door?"

"You go in there, you're her best friend so she won't kill you, and you're a girl so he won't kill you", Xander suggested. "What you mean he wouldn't kill me? You think the poltergeist made him evil?" Willow questioned slightly confused.

"Not in the strongest sense. But if I saw a naked Buffster, her growly boyfriend would kill me before I could blink. Or maybe scratch my eyes out and stomp on them but I like the whole seeing thing. And there is no way I'm letting Anya see a naked Angel! So you are the only option."

"You big baby", Willow said playfully and pried the door open. Angel and Buffy jumped to sit on the broken bed, pulling the sheet around them. "Willow! Can't you knock?" Buffy chided embarrassed of the situation.

"Glad you guys are alright", she just said before pulling the door nearly closed. Buffy and Angel looked around them, Buffy more embarrassed than Angel.

"We should go, before the owner of this room comes back", she said and rose from the scattered bed to look for her clothes. A proud smirk rose to Angel's lips as he thought what they had done in Riley Finns room, he couldn't help but feel like a animal marking his territory.

"What are you smirking about?" Buffy asked suspiciously and pulled her shirt back on. "Nothing", was the only answer she got and he too got up from the bed that was now in pieces.

Half an hour after Buffy and Angel had left the house, the Initiative commandos returned. Riley returned to his room but stopped dead on his tracks as he saw what condition it was. First he thought it might have been from the shaking but then he noticed the bed and what condition it was in. Forrest walked behind him and slammed his hand to his shoulder whistling in awe.

"Wow, Ri. Someone got some heavy riding tonight. It was about time you got over the slayer chick. Good for you, man", he said slapping him once more before leaving. Riley was fuming with anger and now he was certain that it had been Angel in his room. He was going to pay, he swore in his mind and slammed the door shut.

.

The gang had gathered at Giles' place the same evening. "This is embarrassing. But what caused the poltergeistiness?" Buffy asked sitting next to Angel on the couch but trying not to touch him.

"We are not certain, a massive sexual energy in the house or very charged act itself", Giles explained, taking off his glasses and starting to clean them so he wouldn't have to look at the couple. Angel glanced at Buffy and whispered to her ear: "I think it was us who started it. The building the other night, it was Lowell house." Buffy turned to look at him blushing furiously.

"Would you two stop that already, you caused one poltergeist already, we don't need another in Giles' house", Anya said and Buffy blushed even more. "I'm sorry guys. If we hadn't lost our self control the way we did, none of this would have happened. It's good thing nobody got hurt."

"True", Anya piped and turned to Angel saying: "Feel shame." "That's my girlfriend", Xander said in fake proud voice.

"Don't worry about it, Buffy. You were under a powerful influence of the spirits, you couldn't help yourselves", Willow assured with a small smile. "Yeah, we had no control over ourselves, we just had to do it. I couldn't stop touching him."

"Hey! How 'bout we do not talk about Angel-touching?!" Xander interrupted.

"That must have been horrible", Willow said sympathetically ignoring Xander. Buffy stared at Willow for a moment, then glanced at Angel before agreeing: "Yeah, horrible." She just didn't sound too convincing.

.

Few days later the gang was at a meeting at Giles'. "It's been really quiet out there, it's weird", Buffy said with a huff. "That usually means something big and bad is happening", Willow clarified to Tara.

"What I've heard from underground, the Initiative is full of demons", Angel told them. "Something must be going on, it's strange that they find plenty to capture when I don't find even one to kill", Buffy said sounding little jealous. Angel smiled at her, she just looked so cute when she was sitting on the edge of the table, arms folded in front of her and a small pout on her lips.

"Yes, well, till we know more of the situation, you need to careful and keep an eye on if there is any strange occurrences." "Well that was a perfect waste of an hour", Anya said and Giles turned sharply to her.

"I have had enough of your snide remarks..." he started but stopped when the door opened and everyone turned to look at the comer with stunned expressions.

"Oz", Willow breathed. "Hey", he answered with a small movement of a hand. "When... when did you come back?" she stammered still confused of him being back. "Pretty much now", was his answer.

"I don't want to sound like a grandmother but you don't call, you don't write", Xander said and Oz shrugged. "Sorry." "So, are you here-here or just passing through?" Buffy asked worried of her friend.

"Let's not bombard Oz with questions. Would you like some tea?" Giles said as the voice of reason. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass. Angel, thanks for the tip", Oz said and everyone turned to look at Angel who didn't seem to pay attention to it.

"You're welcome. How was Tibet?" "Peaceful." "Did it help?" "Yeah." Buffy looked at both of them in turns and then leaned to Angels ear. "You are so gonna make you 'fess up once we get home", she whispered to him.

"Willow, can we talk tonight?" Oz asked again turning to his former girlfriend. "Umm... sure", Willow stammered nodding her head. "Okay, I'll go see Devon, maybe I can crash there. It was good to see you guys", he said before leaving.

.

Buffy returned back to the mansion after meeting with Willow who had told her about the mixed feelings she was having and about the true relationship between her and Tara. She found him reading in front of the fire place, he immediately lifted his gaze from the book to her.

"Buffy", he whispered her name and got a soft 'Angel' in return. She sat next to him leaning into his large form and sighed.

"How was Willow?" "Confused, Oz being back and having the control over the wolfy side of him. And she and Tara are... more than friends... so that complicates things even more. She doesn't want to hurt anyone but someone is bound to get hurt", she answered sighing deeply after finishing and melting against him.

"She'll do what her heart tells her to", Angel assured and smoothed her hair back. She lifted her head and gazed to his eyes before reaching out and running her hand along his cheek.

"I love you, I just want you to know that", she whispered her voice full of emotion. Angel looked at her not knowing what it was all about. "I know. I love you too, more than you know", he whispered and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He pulled back and watched her face for a long while.

"Are you okay?" She smiled assuringly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just little mood swings. I don't really know where they're coming from", she answered sniffling her nose. She started to rise from the couch, turning back to him and offering her hand.

"We should to see Giles before we go for a patrol." He nodded and took a hold of her hand before getting up.

They went to Giles' apartment but it didn't take long till Tara ran through the door out of breathe and clearly upset.

"The Initiative... they... they took Oz... He changed... and... and they captured him", she stammered while trying to catch her breathe. Before anyone could say anything, they heard amused giggle from the door and saw Spike leaning to the wall with cigarette hanging on his lips.

"What are you doing here, Spike?" Buffy asked not having the patience to deal with him. "Heard the wolf boy was the newest lab rat", he answered with a chuckle and earned several glares his way. Buffy turned to Giles, dismissing Spike.

"I need you to call Willow, tell her to come here, we need her computer skills, maybe she can cut the power from the Initiative and we can sneak in without anyone noticing." Giles went to the phone dialing the number. Xander turned to Buffy clearly concerned.

"How are we going to get in, I thought your clearance was canceled." "We just need someone with a clearance and eyes intact."

"Or you could go around the back. I know the way, there's been talk underground. I want to get back at those buggers and I could use some cash", Spike said nonchalantly and took a long breathe from the cigarette. Both Buffy and Angel looked at him suspiciously but they didn't have a choice, they needed to get Oz out before something bad happened.

"Fine, but you're not getting any money before Oz is out", Buffy answered with a voice that left no arguments but that didn't mean Spike wouldn't protest. "Come on, slayer!"

"No, Spike. It's a insurance that this isn't one of your little traps." "Come on, I want to get back at those bloody wankers that put this bloody chip on me head! It's not like I could even suggest a truce to those gun happy twats, they would make me a lab rat before I could speak!"

"Still not getting a penny before we all are out", Buffy answered folding her arms in front of her. "Fine. And you people call me evil", Spike mumbled.

.

Spike lead the gang to the Initiative while Giles, Anya and Tara stayed back hacking into the system and cutting the power. They made their way to the bedroom of colonel McNamara and she poked him with her crossbow waking him in the process. He quickly looked around the room, Spike and Xander watching the door, Willow standing in the background and Angel looking very menacing beside Buffy.

"You know who I am?" Buffy asked and McNamara nodded. "Then you don't want to mess with us. Get dressed. You are going to hand Oz to us." "The werewolf? We are not just going to let you people walk out of here with the animal", McNamara threatened but didn't manage to convince the gang.

"We are not going to let you 'people' torture and poke your needles at a human being. You are not any better than the creatures you experiment with, you have no right at playing with nature. Haven't you people seen any movies!?" Buffy said and signed with her crossbow him to move.

They walked along the corridor towards the holding cells but they were stopped by commandos coming from both directions. Buffy lifted the crossbow to McNamara's head and looked at the commandos pointedly.

"Stay back or I'll do a William Burroughs on your leader here!" she threatened but only reseaved confused looks from everyone except Angel. "You'll bore him to death with free prose?" Xander guessed still confused.

"Was I the only one awake in English that day?" she sighed and then clarified to the commandos: "I'll kill him!" She pushed him forward and they stopped in front of Oz's cage.

"Get him out", she ordered and grudgingly he did as told. Oz stepped out of the small room and Willow tried to approach but Oz lifted his hand to stop her. Her eyes widened in concern as she saw the hand starting to change and quickly she took a step back. Angel stepped forward and gave Oz support while they made their way to the elevator with McNamara as their guarantee.

Riley stepped forward and looked at Buffy pleadingly. "Buffy, don't do this", he pleaded but she just shook her head. "I'm already doing it", she answered and closed the elevator door.

Once they arrived to the house, Buffy smashed the control panel with her fist and pulled the wires out snapping them cut. She stepped out the elevator still pointing the crossbow at McNamara.

"You're not gonna get away with this", he threatened and Buffy just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah", Buffy answered bored.

"He is nothing more than an animal, not worth saving. What we do saves lives!" he ranted and Willow had had enough. She grabbed the tazer rifle from Xander and stomped to colonel McNamara knocking him out with the butt. McNamara fell unconsciously to the ground and everyone looked at Willow, stunned.

"Nobody talks about my ex-boyfriend like that", she just explained little stunned of her own action. "Go Willow! Remind me not to mess with you", Buffy grinned and they all started to leave the building.

To be continued...


	17. Falling

Chapter 17: Falling

Buffy stretched lazily on the bed and rolled around colliding into Angels sleeping form. She couldn't help but smile at the picture he was making and she was having an urge to run her fingers along his cheek and jaw but she resisted, she didn't want to wake him since now she knew he was really sleeping. Slowly she rolled over and tried to shift to the edge to get out of bed but she was stopped by his hand pulling her against his chest. She smiled and looked over her shoulder only to see he was still sleeping. Again she tried to move but was only held tighter.

Once again she tried to get out of bed but he wasn't letting her go, so she just sighed softly and closed her eyes, melting against his firm body. It was two hours later when she woke up, slowly opening her eyes and staring straight into Angels gentle chocolate browns.

"Now look who's staring", she said playfully still little groggy from sleep and she earned a small smile from him.

"Yeah, but you're so cute", he said back and leaned into a soft kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer nearly on top of her. "You too", she whispered into his ear once he released her lips. She pressed a wet kiss next to his ear and trailed down to his neck.

"Are you hungry?" he asked trying to concentrate on something else than her lips on his neck.

"Definitely", she mumbled against her skin and Angel suppressed a moan from escaping. But soon he heard her stomach growl and it was a clear sign that she was hungry more ways than one. He pulled her back, pushing her against the mattress and received a pout for his efforts.

"I made breakfast and you're obviously hungry", he said and climbed off the bed, pulling her with him. Grudgingly she followed him to the kitchen that he had fixed after the bullet shower it had had, he constantly kept surprising her with new talents. She sat on the counter as he handed her the plate that had pancakes with fresh strawberries on the side. She grinned at him and took one of the strawberries, biting the end of it and letting the small trail of juice glide down the side of her lips. He watched her bewitched and slowly leaned closer to her, kissing her lips, licking the juice from them.

"Don't play with your food", he chided mock seriously and settled on a chair in front of the table. Buffy hopped down from the counter and sat on a seat across the table from him.

"Yes, daddy", she answered playfully and nipped at the pancake. "For someone whose on a liquid diet, you sure can cook. At this rate, you're gonna make me big as this house."

"I'm sure we can figure a way to burn the calories", he smirked at she looked at him with mock shocked expression on her face.

"So that's why you make me delicious breakfast. You're a bad boy, Angel." "You don't know the half of it", he answered huskily.

.

Riley held a printed picture of Angel in his hand in front of a squad of commandos.

"This is our main target, it's name is Angel. This is not a capture mission, we intend to dust this bastard. But be aware, it is strong and may travel with the slayer. We do not harm the slayer, we capture her. Is everybody clear?" There was a choir of conformation from the group but Forrest just grunted in agitation, he didn't know why they had to just capture the bitch that had been messing with their business.

"Okay, patrol the area, Adam is still out there and call for back up if you sight any of them, Adam, Buffy or the vampire. You are dismissed", Riley finished and the commandos started to back up their gear before heading out. Forrest went to Riley while Graham waited in the background.

"Why do we just capture the bitch? She's a vampire whore, it's disgusting." Riley turned sharply to Forrest, him eyes darkening.

"Once the vampire is dusted, she will be free of it's influence. We can rehabilitate her and then she will be a useful asset to our mission."

"But Riley..." Forrest started but Riley lifted his hand as a sign to be quiet. "That will be all, soldier", he said his voice full of authority. "Yes, sir", Forrest said grudgingly and left mumbling something to himself.

.

It was after sundown that Buffy went to look for Adam. She was supposed to meet Angel by the forest but he didn't show up. She was slightly worried but still knew he could take care of himself or that something else had come up. She really should get a cellphone, she thought to herself as she started approaching the cave she was suspecting Adam might be in. She heard leaves crushing and in a flash she spun around, lifting the broadsword she was holding but stopped herself as she noticed it was Forrest.

"This is the 21st century, you know", he said trying to hide his fear at the sharp thing in front of him.

"Yeah, but I've noticed this thing is more useful in a fight than your ray-guns", she shot back, lowering the sword. "Leave these things to professionals, little girl", Forrest said trying to walk past her but she lifted the sword blocking his path.

"Listen to me, little boy. This thing that you "professionals" created is not going to even blink at the little electric gun you're holding so proudly. I've been doing this since I was 15 and I've stopped several apocalypses and I will stop many more after you're done with playing commando. So take your own advise, leave this to the professionals", she said lowering the sword and walking into the cave with fuming Forrest following her.

"You're pretty high and mighty, aren't you!" he yelled after her and she spun around to face him. "If you don't shut up, I will show you what a slayer strength really is."

"Yeah, why don't you, I'd love to see you try", Forrest shot back booming with confidence. "Yes, so would I", came Adams voice from behind them. Both humans spun to look at the new comer and for a long moment the three just looked at each other.

"You intrigue me, slayer, so much power in one small form. I shall study you after I have killed you", Adam said and Buffy just shrugged like it was talk of the weather.

"Why don't you bad guys ever get new lines?" she said and attacked him, swinging her sword like it was light as a feather. "Get out of here!" she yelled at Forrest as she swung the sword at Adam but the commando wouldn't move. Adam blocked her blows till he grabbed her hand, slamming the swords handle to her face and punched her hard enough to send her flying to the cave wall.

Forrest who had stayed in the background attacked Adam but he was no match to him. Adam took the tazer gun from his hands and struck the Polgara's bone through him. Buffy got up from the ground and picked up the fallen sword but before she could attack, Adam threw the dead body of Forrest to her. She fell to the ground with his dead weight on top of her and she pushed him off of her jumping to her feet. She had just the time to see Adam point the gun at her and fire. She quickly ran out of the cave feeling the sharp pain of electricity running through her but she wouldn't stop running.

.

Just after sundown Angel was on his way to the forest where he was supposed to meet Buffy but he could feel that he was followed.

"You're really getting on my nerves", he said to the darkness where he knew his followers were hiding and a few moments later, he was surrounded by five commandos and Riley was one of them. With one glance he noticed that they were all wearing wooden stakes along with tazers, this was not a capture mission. He couldn't help but laugh.

"Come on, Finn. You really think that by killing me your going to capture her heart?" he said still laughing a humorless laugh.

"I know I will. She deserves someone who can give her a normal life. Once you are dust, you'll be just like a bad dream to her and she will be free", Riley said back and Angel couldn't help but think that the boy was delusional.

"You're living in a dream world, boy. Sorry, but I don't have time to play, I'm meeting my girlfriend", Angel said and started walking away like they weren't armed and ready to kill him.

"Team, resume attack", Riley ordered and the commandos attacked Angel, who quickly spun around, grabbing one of the commandos and throwing him to the others, knocking two men down. One man holding a stake ran to him but he grabbed his arm, striking it back to his face and knocking him down with the force.

The other three had managed to untangle their limbs and get off the ground. All three of them attacked him at the same time but he managed to keep them far enough not to even touch him with a stake but he was through playing. Quickly he grabbed two commandos by the labels of their jackets and smashed them against each other, both falling to the ground unconscious. He spun around and kicked the third one in the stomach and struck his knee to his face once he was doubled over and he too was unconscious on the ground. Slowly he turned to look at Riley, who was only on left standing.

"Those government drugs have really done a job on your brain when you think that Buffy would ever fall for you once you killed me. I'm suspecting the drugs have really destroyed the brain cells when you though you could take me, there is only one person who can beat me and that is Buffy, you and your little army buddies can't be even compared to her, you're out of your league, boy", he said walking slowly towards the commando that didn't seem to be afraid of him.

Riley whipped out his gun but in a flash Angel was in front of him and back handed him, the gun flying off his hands. Riley hit him hard on the face and without wavering he returned the favor. Riley fell to the ground but rolled to his feet pulling a stake from his side before attacking Angel once more. Angel side stepped him, grabbing him by his jacket and sending him crashing to a near by tree.

Little groggily he got up and attacked Angel, whipping the metal baton to its full length and hit Angel in the back with it. Angel growled and back handed him sending him stumbling to the ground. He grabbed the commando by the collar and slammed his head to the ground but he managed to grab a hand-held tazer and stuck it to Angels side. He stumbled back a little and growled loudly, his face in full vampire visage. Riley tried to reach the stake lying in the ground but Angel stepped on his hand and pulled him to his feet before hitting him with great force, knocking him down. He let the body fall to the ground and with a one last look and a soft growl he couldn't suppress, he left the sight leaving five unconscious commandos behind.

When he reached the forest, he stopped dead on his tracks, he could smell blood and not just anyones, Buffy's. He growled in anger and followed the scent, finding her broadsword lying on the ground with smudges of blood in it. He lifted it off the ground and followed the faint scent of blood till he reached the mansion. He sighed in relief that she had returned back.

He went inside and found her nestled into the couch in front of the fire. There was a bruise forming in the side of her face and a small cut on her forehead.

"Buffy", he whispered and went to her in long strides. "Angel", she whispered in relief and wrapped her arms around his neck as soon as he was close enough. Angel pulled her into his embrace and kissed her hair breathing in her scent.

"What happened?" he asked softly, not releasing her from his arms. "Adam. He killed Forrest. And I barely got away, I feel so helpless", she answered miserably and pulled a little back, noticing the cut on his face.

"What happened to you?" she asked, softly tracing the cut with her fingers. "Met with some commandos, that's why I was late." Buffy looked at him in concern and he smiled comfortingly.

"I'm okay", he assured and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "You better be, cause I can't do this alone", she whispered her voice full of emotion. "You're never going to loose me", he answered and pulled her into a tighter embrace.

.

Buffy went to Giles' place after trying to call everyone but not having any of them answer the phone. When she got there, everyone was ready for a fight, only it was against each other. Finally she walked out the apartment, going to the only person she could count on. She walked in the mansion and as soon as she found she was alone, she sat to the floor in front of the fire place. She closed her eyes and let out a ragged breathe, all the happenings washed over her and she felt too tired to move, barely even breathe.

She heard the foot steps coming closer but she didn't bother opening her eyes because she knew who it was. Angel looked at her in concern, she looked tired and beat and not only physically. He sat next to her and she finally opened her eyes turning to look at him.

"Hey", he whispered. "Hey." He took a hold of her hand and twined their fingers before bringing hers to his lips.

"What happened?" he asked after pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. "We had a fall out. Everybody said what they think and it went bad. They attacked me, not physically but with words and it was just as bad as they would have hit me in the face. You are the only one I can really count on", she said miserably and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Something must have happened", Angel tried but she didn't say anything. She took a deep breathe and got up from the floor. "Well, I can't wallow in it, Adam is still out there and someone has to stop him", she said and started gathering her weapons into one bag. She picked up the broadsword he had brought back from the woods and she wiped the dried blood off it. Angel walked to her, trying to place a comforting hand to her shoulder but she moved away, swinging the weapon bag to her shoulder.

"I'm going back to Adams cave", she said and Angel was about to protest but she raised her hand as a sign for him to stop. "I'm going to finish this. The longer we wait the more he has time to plan what ever he is planning. So, are you coming with me?" she continued and Angel touched her arm, this time she allowed it.

"Of course I am. I'm not going to let you face that thing alone", he answered and she gave him a small smile. He picked up a battle axe and they headed out.

When they reached the cave, there was no sign of Adam but they both could sense they weren't alone. They spun around ready to attack who ever was closing in on them but immediately they noticed it was Spike.

"Hey! Watch where you point those things!" he yelled raising his hand in the air as a sign of surrender. "You", Buffy sighed dismissing him and lowered her sword. "Hey! I resent that tone!"

"What are you doing in Adams lair, Spike?" she asked not in the mood to listen to him bitch. "This is the bloody Frankenstein's lair, no wonder it gives me the creeps, besides you, luv", he said with fake surprise and earned a glare from her.

"He's planning something, why else would he abandon these caves. You wouldn't happen to know something, would you, Spike", she asked suspiciously and he tried to look as innocent as he could.

"Come on now, slayer. Why do you always blame me? I helped you morons, didn't I. I got you the disk at the risk of me own life and this is all I get from you people. Why don't you ask the witch what's in the disk, it should tell you. Just because you had a little fall out with the chit doesn't mean you can't ask." "Right", she admitted distractedly.

"Well, if you don't, it's not skin off my back", Spike said and left the cave. Buffy and Angel both looked suspiciously after him.

"He's planning something", Buffy said and Angel nodded. "Yeah. I can smell Adam all over him", he confirmed. "So he teamed up with him."

"He has the tendency of taking the side of who he thinks is going to win and it's not uncommon of him to jump if things don't look good", Angel said and Buffy nodded, she knew it all too well, after all, Spike had switched sides when Angelus was going to wake Acathla.

"We should go to Giles, fix things that happened. I think Spike had his finger on what happened earlier", she said and they exited the cave.

.

The gang realized that Spike had played them and they headed to the Initiative only to be stopped by the commandos.

"You really thought you could just walk into our building unnoticed?" colonel McNamara said accusingly. "Adam is in this building", Buffy tried but was interrupted by McNamara.

"You come here, waltzing into my building with your little weapons like... what is this?" McNamara said pulling out the old gourd with symbols attached to it. "It's a gourd", Willow helped out and Giles clarified: "A magic gourd."

"What kind of freaks are you!" colonel McNamara accused. "Adam is in the building!" Buffy said loudly since the man didn't seem to listen to her. For a short moment he was thrown but soon he got back his high and mighty attitude.

"This facility has a twenty four hour security, I would know if that thing was in this building." "The secret lab too?" Willow questioned.

"Everything!" he yelled but after a moment added: "What secret lab?" "The one Adam is using. The one that was build as the last phase of project 314. And apparently you don't have a clue what I'm talking about", Buffy said rolling her eyes.

"Everything has been monitored, nothing has happened without me knowing about it. Adam can try and come here, we are ready for him", said McNamara all but boasting his chest out.

"And may I ask how have you prepared yourselves? How are you going remove his power source?" Giles asked getting tired of the man. "We are going to hit him simultaneously with tazer blasters, incapacitate him with as much voltage as we can."

"Right there with you man, that's right there with the duck and cover", Xander said giving his two cents in. "You're just giving him more power, those things do nothing to harm him, they more like feed him! Are you really that dense?"

"You telling me my business, little girl", McNamara said stepping closer to Buffy trying to be menacing but not succeeding on scaring the slayer.

"This is my business. I am the slayer, this is what I do. You are just a bunch of amateurs. You people are over your heads", Buffy said taking a pose that showed her confidence and brought a proud smile on her friends faces, especially to Angels who was one step away from declaring she was his girlfriend.

"This is my jurisdiction", McNamara started but stopped when the lights went out. After a long moment the soldier in front of the monitors turned to McNamara.

"Sir, containment area's been breached. Hostiles are loose." "How many?" "All of them, sir." Buffy stepped in.

"I'm the slayer, I can handle this. Get these people out of here", she said but McNamara didn't seem to be wavering.

"Men, follow me, we are going to the armory. And these people are under arrest", McNamara gave his orders and left the room, leaving two soldiers behind. Buffy rolled her eyes and kicked the soldier unconscious while Angel grabbed the other punching him hard enough for him to loose consciousness. Without telling, Willow sat in front of the monitors and soon they found where Adam was hiding. "We need to get there. The only problem is getting there."

They rushed through the main area, demon and commandos were fighting but it was more like a human massacre than a fight. Angel and Buffy were on the lead, taking care of the demons that tried to attack the gang. They were nearly on the door when a commando opened fire towards Willow.

"Willow!" Buffy screamed and moved towards her but Angel got there first, tackling her to the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked tentatively while helping her off the ground and Willow just nodded with a small thankful smile. They quickly went to the room 314 and blocked the door.

"Is this quiet enough for spell central?" Buffy asked while moving a heavy shelf and opening the secret door. "It will do", Giles answered and started to prepare the spell.

"Barricade yourselves into this room. How long should it take the spell to work?" "About five minutes", Giles answered. "Okay, I'll try to move fast. See you later", she said and stepped inside the secret room but was stopped by her friends.

"Are you sure you should go alone?" Xander questioned. "I'm not alone", she answered with a small smile. Angel stepped closer to her and pulled her into a quick but passionate kiss.

"Be careful", he whispered to her ear and turned to look into her eyes with all the love he felt. "You too. And keep them safe", she answered and stepped back. Buffy closed the door and Angel blocked it with the shelf going to guard the other door while the others started the spell.

Soon Buffy reached the room she thought Adam must be and the first thing she saw was Riley sitting stiffly in a chair.

"Riley?" she questioned but he didn't say anything or move a muscle just directed his eyes at her. "You okay?" she asked but again he didn't say anything.

"He is not programmed to answer to you", came Adams voice and Buffy turned around, seeing Adam with zombie-like professor Walsh and doctor Angleman. "He's a part of the final phase. As were you supposed to be", Adam said and Buffy shrugged.

"What can I say, I never was one for rules. Prophecies, the Council, crazy professors, I never really did what they wanted, I'm funny that way", Buffy said tilting her head to the side.

"Oh... Kill her!" Adam ordered and zombie-like Forrest grabbed her from the behind. "I thought you would never ask", he said against her face and tightened his grip around her throat. Buffy struggled against him while Walsh and Angleman neared her, Walsh holding some kind of surgical device. Buffy kicked her in the face, sending her stumbling across the room and she backed Forrest into the wall, knocking his head back hard. She was freed and she started sending kicks and punches at her aggressors. During the fierce fight, she grabbed a hold of a electrical cord and cut it, trying to fry her opponents. But before she could, she was grabbed and thrown against a surgeons table, ready to be cut.

"And you boasted all about your superior strength, you are just a weak little girl. You have nothing", Forrest ranted. "She's got me", came Angels voice from behind them, they turned to look and Angel ripped off the tubes on Walsh and Angleman. Buffy used the opportunity to kick Forrest in the face sending him stumbling to the ground. She jumped off the table and went to Angel with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Hey. I need to go. You can handle him right?" "It will be my pleasure", he answered and pulled her into a quick kiss before letting her go. He turned to look at Forrest who was trying to get up and he growled at the sight of the ignorant boy or what was left of him, he knew all about the taunt and resentment he had showed against Buffy from the beginning and now was time for payback.

He stalked towards the Frankenstein junior and grabbed him by the shoulders, throwing him to the wall before stalking after him. Forrest didn't even have time to recover when Angel was grabbing him again and hitting him repeatedly before throwing him across the room. Forrest grabbed one of the oxygen tanks as a weapon before attacking Angel.

"You are going to die, vampire!" he yelled, disgust showing in his voice. Angel blocked his attack and hit him with the tank he was holding. "I'm already dead", he said and hit him. He glanced around him and quickly ducked for cover behind one of the surgical tables. Forrest didn't even have time to understand what was going on when he noticed the electrical cord hanging above him and touching the tank, setting an explosion.

"And so are you", Angel said while getting off the ground and looking around himself, the room filled with pieces of Forrest.

.

In the meanwhile, Buffy stepped into a room where Adam was watching the screens that showed what was happening inside the Initiative.

"Fun, isn't it", she stated and Adam spun around. "I do appreciate violence", he replayed. "So do I", Buffy answered and attacked him. She threw powerful kicks and punches at him but he backed her against the wall, trying to pierce her with the sharp bone from his arm. But Buffy grabbed his arm and cut the bone against her thigh.

"I've got your arm", she said throwing the cut bone to the floor. "I've got a new one", Adam answered and his other arm transformed into a fire weapon. Her eyes widened and quickly she ducked for cover as he started firing the weapon. She dived behind a large computer console. She felt something strong go through her as Adam blew up the console in front of her. Slowly she stood up from behind the remains, her eyes glowing unnatural color and she directed her gaze to him.

"You can't last longer", he said. "We can, we are forever", she said with a voice that seemed like more than one person speaking at once and she started speaking in Sumerian.

"Interesting", he said more to himself and started shooting towards Buffy but she just raised her hand and the bullets hit a invisible forcefield in front of her before dropping to the ground.

"Interesting indeed", he said and shot a rocket at her but it too stopped at the forcefield before changing into doves. With a small move of her hand, the weapon pulled itself back into his arm. He attacked her but she blocked his every move before kicking him to the stomach, sending him to the ground and picking him up with no strain at all.

"How..." he tried to ask in confusion but she kicked him repeatedly till he slammed against the wall. "Of our power", she said and punched her arm inside his chest. He tried to grab her arm to stop her but she pulled her hand out forcefully and held his power source in her hand. "...but yours is right here", she finished and Adam dropped to the ground in dead weight.

Angel stepped into the room just in time to see Adam uranium floating on air and Buffy speaking in Sumerian before the devise disappeared into a light. Once it was gone, her eyes changed back to normal and she fainted but Angel managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. It didn't take long till she opened her eyes and gazed into his gentle but worried eyes.

"Hey", she whispered and earned a small smile from him. "Hey." He let her stand on her own feet but didn't let go of her. "I guess we should get back out there, there's still a fight going on", she said and they made their way back to the room where the others were. They stepped through the door and the others jumped up from the floor.

"Buffy!" Willow yelped and went to hug her friend. "Wasn't that amazing", she said with a wide smile and Buffy nodded with a similar smile. "You were great", Xander said from the background. "We were great. But it's not finished yet, we still need to get the people out of here and beat those demons."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Willow asked with a slight concern in her voice. "You bet I am", Buffy answered with a smile and they all walked out the door to the chaos that was out there.

.

The fight was long and hard but they managed to come out alive and dragged themselves to Giles' apartment. They all sat still in awe, not really comprehending what had really happened. Buffy snuggled into Angels side and closed her eyes with a weary sigh. Angel smoothed her hair back and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. He knew she wasn't sleeping but he let her have the moment.

To be continued...

**A/N:** Thank you to all of you who have been reading this story and extra thanks to those who have reviewed, it encourages me to keep on writing. Just one more chapter and this story is over, hopefully I'll be starting the sequel for In full body and mind after this one is finished.  
A few days ago my two and a half months old laptop decided that she didn't want to play with me anymore, it just won't open no matter what I do, everything is in place but nothing happens. I was working on a new story, had nearly whole chapter written and just my luck, it's in the computer and not anywhere else. Thankfully my old computer is still alive so I can keep writing, the new one is going for prepare, so I'll be waiting if the story can be saved and I'll post it when I get the computer back or I'll just have to start picking my memory to rewrite it.


	18. Moving on

Chapter 18: Moving on

After the first slayer tried to kill the gang, everything had been quiet in the Hellmouth. But something was about to happen, Angel could feel it.

Angel laid on the bed, Buffy nestled securely in his arms and sleeping soundly. He watched her breathe in and out with a small smile playing on his lips and he just enjoyed the moment of peace. But he had to get up even though he surely didn't want to. Carefully he untangled himself from her limbs, trying not to wake her he slid out of the bed and smiled at her sleepy grunt of protest. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and quietly walked out the bedroom to the great hall where he added few logs to the fire before making his way to the kitchen. He stopped at the door when he saw a strange man going through his fridge, almost half way inside it.

"And you dare to call yourself an Irish man, there's not a single bottle of beer in here. Being a vampire is no excuse", the man said with an Irish accent and turned to look at Angel. Angel looked him up and down, not really thinking him much of a threat but you never know.

"What are you?" he asked and the man raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, a fellow might take offense on that tone of yours. I'm not a vampire, since I can just walk in here uninvited", he said slightly defensively. "You don't smell like human."

"I'm human", he said and sneezed violently when spikes appeared from his skin. "On my mothers side", he added.

"I'm Francis Doyle. Just Doyle, don't call me Francis", he said and offered his hand. Angel just looked at it little suspiciously and Doyle rolled his eyes. "This is no trick. I was send here to get you. Well that didn't sound reassuring. Man, you gave me the worse headache in months", he said and went through the cabinets finally finding a bottle of whiskey. "This is really the good stuff", he said to himself and poured a glass before drinking it in two gulps.

"I get these blinding, head-crushing headaches which are caused by the visions sent by our very own Powers that be", he explained and poured another glass. "Powers that be what?" Angel asked and Doyle just shook his head.

"Let's just say they are the good guys. Any ways, I was sent here to... guide you. Thanks to the Powers, I got the front seat in seeing your little soap opera with the slayer. Never thought that would happen, vampire in love with the slayer. Well, boy meets girl, boy falls in love with the girl, they get a roll in the hay and boy turns into the worst evil son of a bitch this planet has seen, boy wreaks havoc in the Hellmouth, boy gets his soul back, girl sends him to Hell, boy comes back from Hell, boy and girl dance around each other like couple of teenagers with a crush but no balls, they get back together, boy is going to leave the girl but doesn't cause he gets his soul anchored. I'm happy for you, buddy, about the permanent soul I mean, but you are chosen to be a warrior for the good, you are meant to help people", Doyle said and drank down the glass of whiskey.

"I help people", Angel protested. "Okay, so you kill demons, but you don't help people directly. Sunnydale really isn't that big of a place, crappy selection of bars, you are supposed to be in Los Angeles, helping people, saving lives, trying to get your redemption."

"Even if I believed you, I can't go to Los Angeles", Angel said falling into brood mood. "Yeah, the girl", Doyle stated absently and poured yet another glass.

"Shouldn't you go easy on that stuff?" Angel asked as he watched him drink it down. "Only thing that helps with the headaches." He placed the glass down to the table and turned look at Angel.

"I'll let you think about it. But are you sure you want to throw away your chance for redemption because of a girl?" "I'm not leaving her again", was Angels answer, he knew the only way he was going to leave Buffy was if she told him to leave. Doyle spared one last look at Angel and left.

.

Buffy woke up in an empty bed but she could feel that Angel was still near. Slowly she got up and slid into one of his dress shirts that still laid on the floor. She breathed in his scent on the shirt and smiled as it surrounded her, then she rolled her eyes at herself.

She walked into the main hall but headed to the kitchen when she heard voices. She was about to make her presence known when she heard the unknown man start to talk about her and Angel. When he said Angel was going to leave her, tears sprang to her eyes and she had to lift her hand to her lips to not to cry aloud.

She listened to the conversation without making a sound and the tears juts increased when she heard Angel say that he wasn't leaving her even for his redemption. She slid into the shadows when the man stepped out of the kitchen and walked past her without noticing her. For a moment she just stood there trying to gather herself and after wiping her tears away, she stepped inside the kitchen. Angel spun around and looked at her in surprise.

"Buffy." "Angel", she breathed back, it was an old habbit even though they had been practically living under the same roof for nearly a year.

"I thought you were still asleep", he said and smoothed back her hair. "Yeah, I was but then I woke up in this really big bed and I was all alone in it."

"Sorry." Buffy smiled reassuringly and cupped his cheek. "You really should stop apologizing about everything", she said and pressed a soft kiss to his lips that soon turned into more passionate. She finally pulled away and took few steps back to clear her head. Angel could see that something was bothering her and he was almost afraid to ask.

"Who was that man you were talking to?" she finally asked and Angel froze. "He was no one", he tried to dodge but Buffy wouldn't let him.

"It didn't sound like nothing to me." "How much did you hear?" he asked in almost a whisper.

"That he knows about us... And that you were going to leave me in those sewers! But I'm not getting into that now, what I want to know is, what was he talking about a redemption?" Angel looked down almost in shame, he shook his head before answering:

"It's not important." "It sounds like something important to me. Angel, please", she said and lifted his gaze to hers by taking a hold of his chin.

"He said I was supposed to be in Los Angeles, helping people so I could get my redemption. But I can't leave you, I can't leave you for anything. Only if you tell me to go, only if you don't want me, otherwise I just can't, every moment away from you feels like my insides are being attacked by wild dogs, I can't live without you anymore", he said and placed his hands around her face. Tears were glistering in her eyes as she watched and listened to him.

"Angel, you need this, it is important to you to get your redemption. You need to go to Los Angeles", she said with a shaky voice and his face fell, was Buffy telling him that she didn't want him anymore. Seeing his face and eyes change, she pulled him back to look at her.

"Hey, don't even think about it. You're not getting rid of me that easily, if you're going to LA, I'm coming with you. Maybe I could transfer to UCLA", she said with a small forced smile.

"But Buffy, what about your friends, your mother and the Hellmouth?" he tried to protest but she shook her head and placed her finger to his lips, silencing him.

"LA is only two hours away. I'm not going to ignore my duties in here but I can live in LA and slay here too, it's been quiet in here besides Adam. And my friends and mother will still be here even if I'm not. It's not like we wouldn't see each other anymore and there's those nice little inventions called telephone and internet. I'm not gonna let you waste your opportunity for redemption just because you love me", she said with a tone that left no room for arguing.

After a long silence he looked at her eyes studying them intently and asked softly: "Are you sure? I don't want you to ruin your life because of me."

"Angel, I love you, I want to be with you and this is something you need to do. I'm not doing anything I don't want to do", she reassured him and pulled him into a gentle kiss.

.

Angel walked into a dim lighted bar and soon spotted Doyle nursing his drink. Angel made his way to him and sat in the chair next to him.

"Okay, I'm coming to LA but I need to know a little bit more than you told me", he said and Doyle smiled. "So, what happened I'm not leaving her?" he asked and Angel send him a look that might have send someone else running.

"I'm not. She's coming to LA. The only reason I'm doing this is her", he answered and earned a grin from Doyle. "Someone's whipped, but hey, with a girl like that, it's no wonder." Angel gave him a look and he decided it was best to quit yammering and go straight to business.

"Okay, so what you wanna know? But keep in mind I don't know all the facts either so I can tell only what I know."

"So how does the thing work, I roam the streets of LA and wait for a damsel in distress?" Angel asked and Doyle laughed shortly.

"No, it's more like with Batman, you wait for the bat signal, which in this case is the skull crushing visions I get", Doyle answered and yelled in pain before almost falling down the stool. Angel managed to catch him before he fell and kept him on his feet till Doyle seemed to recover. First Doyle swallowed the remains of his whiskey and turned to Angel.

"Like that. It was your damsel, some blond chick, maybe in college, in a cemetery and a big ugly demon." "That's not much help, this is Sunnydale, there's several cemeteries. Anything more pacific?"

"The demons face looked like a squid, red and blue. It was night, there was a mausoleum with a eye on it", Doyle answered and Angel nodded before getting up. "I think I know where that is", Angel said and left through the sewers since it was still daylight.

.

The scooby gang was gathered at Giles' place and everyone was looking at Buffy expectantly. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" Willow asked.

"May I interrupt? I must say this now that I can remember it. We went back to the Initiative, Xander, Angel and I. It appears that there was no sign of Riley and the body of Adam was gone. Do you believe the government would be foolish enough to try to put Adam back together?" Giles said and Buffy shook her head.

"I don't think they could do that, professor Walsh is dead and the power source is gone. And I think that Riley was taken by the government guys... or one of the demons got him, which I doubt since they didn't get to the secret lab", Buffy answered and everyone seemed satisfied.

"Well, do continue. What was it that you wanted to talk about with us, it sounded important", Giles encouraged. Buffy twisted her hands nervously and turned to look at the others before jumping to her feet and pacing the room. Finally she stopped and turned them.

"Okay, guys... I'm moving to LA. With Angel", she managed to say and waited for the reactions.

"What!?" was the first reaction coming from Xander.

"Buffy, I must protest", Giles stammered and removed his glasses.

"You're moving? Away?" Willow asked with a small slightly confused voice and took a hold of Tara's hand for comfort.

"Angel needs to go to LA to get his redemption, to be a warrior for the good and to even the scores between what he did as Angelus and what he is now", Buffy explained but others didn't seem satisfied.

"So why don't he just leave to LA", said Xander, not even trying to disguise his hostility towards Angel. "Where he goes, I go", said Buffy sternly looking at Xander almost like a challenge.

"But Buffy, you have a duty to protect the Hellmouth, you can't just leave here, the Hellmouth needs you, you can't ignore your calling", Giles said calmly even though he was feeling anything but. Buffy turned to him with a small reassuring smile.

"It's not like I'm leaving the country, LA is only two hours away. I'm not ignoring anything, I will come here regularly to slay and all that. If you need me, I'll be just a phone call away and I will visit and we'll keep in touch in other matters than slaying. But Angel needs me and he needs to do this, it is his chance to be something big, to make a difference and to be something else than the scourge of Europe trapped with a soul and helping the slayer." Willow got up from the couch and pulled Buffy into a tight hug, tears glistering in her eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you so much. But I understand why you have to do this", she said and gave Buffy one of her bright smiles that wasn't dimmed by the tears in her eyes.

"Don't cry, Will, you'll make me cry too. You're my best friend, it's not like I'm leaving for good, it's just LA, I still visit and we can call and e-mail even if there's nothing real to say", Buffy said, tears rising to her eyes as well. Buffy turned back to Giles.

"And I'm still gonna need your help with the books. Oh boy, my phone bill is going to be murder." Giles gave her a small smile and after polishing his glasses, he gave her a fatherly pat on the shoulder.

"Yes, well, I do believe there is much to slay in Los Angeles as well. I'll wish you good luck and do remember to keep contact and be careful. And we will discuss this further before you and Angel head off. When are you going?"

"I'm not sure, it all happened so fast. And I still have to break the news to my mother", she said her face twisting into a frown.

.

Buffy went to her mothers house and she couldn't stop fidgeting. After seeing how nervous she was, Joyce offered her a cup of tea but Buffy didn't know if she could digest anything.

"Mom, you better sit down", she said and guided Joyce to sit on a couch. After a long moment of pacing the floor, she turned to her mother and just said it.

"Mom, I've been thinking of transferring to UCLA." A bright smile spread to Joyce's face and she jumped off the couch pulling her into a warm hug.

"That's wonderful, honey." Buffy looked at her in confusion, this wasn't the reaction she had been expecting. "I'm gonna be moving with Angel", she added carefully and Joyce's smile fell.

"So it was Angel who talked you into this", she said and pulled away. "No. It was me who spoke Angel into moving", Buffy quickly corrected but Joyce didn't seem to believe her.

"Honey, I know you don't like me saying this, but he's just not right for you. You need someone normal and closer to your own age. You can't let him control your life like this." Buffy's face turned more cold and she folded her arms in front of her.

"Yes, mom, I don't like it when you talk like that. I'm old enough to make my own decisions, I love him, I tried not to but I can't help it. He's my life and my world, he isn't controling me and do I really have to go into the normal and a slayer don't match speech again?"

"But, honey, I just want you to be happy", Joyce tried and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "I am happy, mom. Angel is what makes me happy. Without him I can exist but I am only living when I'm with him", she said with a single tear falling from her eye and Joyce's face softened. She pulled Buffy into a tight hug and tried to keep her own tears away.

"Remember to visit and call. I expect you to keep better contact than you have for the last school year", she said and Buffy pulled away to look at her. A smile irrupted to her face and she assured her: "I promise."

.

Just after sundown Angel made his way to the cemetery with a battle axe hid in his duster. It didn't take long till he heard a loud scream and quickly he ran towards the sound. A small blond girl was cowering on the ground as a large demon approached her. Angel whipped the axe from its hiding and attacked the demon. But to his surprise, the demon spun around and a set of large hooks appeared from its knuckles and it managed to cut him in the chest. Angel growled and swung the axe cutting the demon in its arm. It was the demons turn to growl.

The fight was short but fierce, the demon scraped a deep wound across Angel chest and he barely managed to keep his vamp face down. He kicked the demon in its stomach and cut its hand off with one swing of an axe. He swung again, cutting the head off and the demon fell to the ground with a loud thump.

That's when Angel noticed the crying from behind him and he forced himself to calm down. He turned around and looked at the girl with gentle eyes before making his way to her. He offered her a hand which she took after a moment of hesitation and he pulled her to her feet.

"You really shouldn't be out at night, especially at the cemeteries", he chided. "I... I... just took a short cut", the girl stammered between sobs.

"It's okay, just in the future, stay away from cemeteries at night", he said and turned to leave but the girls voice stopped him.

"Could... could you walk me home?" she asked hopefully and Angel nodded waiting for the girl to show the way.

.

Buffy was waiting for Angel to come home and once he stepped through the door, the first thing she saw was the deep cut in his chest.

"Angel!" she yelped in distress and quickly made her way to him. "It's not as bad as it looks. I'll live", he assured her but she would have none of it and lead him to the couch, sitting him down before rushing to get the medical box.

"There's really not any danger of infection", he tried to protest as she started to clean the. "Humor me", she said dryly. She kept cleaning the wound and he hissed as it stung.

"You are such a baby, I bet you didn't even blink when you were cut but now you cry out at the little sting", she said with a smirk playing on her lips.

"I'm gonna get you for that", he replayed. "I bet you will", she answered the smirk never leaving her lips till he grabbed her shoulders and she let out a loud shriek as he pulled her into his lap.

"It's already healing", he said before pulling her into a passionate kiss. Their hands roamed each others bodies, till Buffy placed her palms to his shoulders and pulled away.

"You need to feed so you'll heal more quickly", she said and made her way to the kitchen despite the growl of protest coming from Angel. After a few minutes she returned with a cup of blood and handed it to him. He was about to place the cup to the table, he still wasn't comfortable at feeding in front of Buffy but she stopped him.

"It's okay for you to eat in front of me. It doesn't bother me", she said and sat down to the other end of the couch. Feeling self conscious, he started drinking from the cup but once he noticed that Buffy wasn't even paying attention to him, he regained his confidence. He drank down the blood and placed the empty cup to the table.

"I told the others that we're moving to LA", Buffy said and turned to him. "How did they take it?"

"Fine, there was some tears involved and reminding of my calling and duty but I think they understand. But mom surprised me, I think she's starting to accept you. But hey, who could resist your dark, broody looks", she said with a smile playing on her lips and he grabbed her leg, pulling her across the couch before lifting her to his lap.

"Really?" "Yeah, it wasn't your cryptic personality that first caught my eye. Even though it did keep my attention too", she said back and leaned down for a kiss.

"But mom did make me promise to call frequently and visit", she said before leaning into another kiss.

.

A week later the gang was helping Buffy and Angel back their stuff into the car, or more like Buffy's stuff since Angel only had two bags.

"Are you sure you two will fit into the car after all Buffy's luggage?" Giles asked and earned a gentle slap from Buffy.

"Remember to call as soon as you get there", Willow said and pulled Buffy into a tight hug. "I will, and we'll see each other next Friday", Buffy said laughing but her voice was still emotional. She looked at the gang and her mother and she couldn't stop the tears from rising once more.

"I love you all", she said and hugged everyone of them in turn. "Be careful", Giles said gently and gave her a small controlled smile. As she went to hug her mother, he made his way to Angel who was waiting by the car.

"Keep her safe, will you", he told him fatherly and Angel nodded. "With my life", he answered and Giles nodded appreciatively.

"Okay, we have to go. I'll call as soon as we get there and we'll see on Friday", Buffy said and started to pull back. Buffy and Angel got to the car and pulled off the driveway. Buffy sighed deeply and closed her eyes. After a long silence she opened them and turned to look at Angel.

"I guess this isn't really riding into the sunset, just to another battlefield", Buffy said with a smile as they passed the Sunnydale sign.

THE END

**A/N: **Thank you to all of you who have been reading this story and special thanks to those who left reviews. This story has come to an end since this was the last chapter, I'm thinking of a sequal but I'm not sure yet, maybe after I've managed to finish the sequal for In full body and mind, I have plenty of ideas for it but I just haven't managed to get them in writing.

And to Brandi Rochon, when I wrote chapter 17, I wasn't sure myself what happened to Riley, I was thinking I guess he's still sitting there. But it would have been a bit cruel so he just mystically disappeared.


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